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THE BLACK WATCH 




SCOUT JOE CASSELLS 

OF THE BLACK WATCH 



THF 
BLACK WATCH 

A RECORD IN ACTION 

BY 

SCOUT JOE CASSELLS 

One of the few survivors of that 
"contemptible little army" 




Frontispiece 



Garden City New York 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1918 



rf^x^' 



Copyright, iqi8, by 
Doubled AY, Page & Company 

All rights reserved, including thai of 

translation into foreign languages ^ 

including the Scandinavian 



SEP 17 1918 



FOREWORD 

From Mons to the Marne lies the bloodiest 
trail of sacrifice in history. In all the rec- 
ords of war, there stands forth no more mag- 
nificent and no more melancholy achievement 
than that of the British regular army, which 
bled its heroic way in ever-diminishing num- 
bers from the challenge to the check of the 
initial German sweep upon Paris. It could 
not hope for decisive victory; it could only 
clog the wheels of the Juggernaut with lives 
and lives and lives, sold bravely and dearly. 
Before a countless superiority of numbers and 
an incalculable advantage in enemy prepared- 
ness, it could only stand, and fall — and stand 
again, and fall — until the end; when the cause 
of the Allies was saved for the hour, and of 
French's hundred thousand there remained 
barely a little leaven of trained men for the 
British forces then assembling to learn the 
trade of warfare. 

V 



FOREWORD 

The ablest pens writing of the Great War 
have paid tribute to this splendid deed which 
changed the course of its beginning. French's 
retreat from Mons has been a topic to inspire 
the highest eloquence of the patriotic historian 
and the most profound admiration of the 
militarist. Everything, from the point of the 
onlooker, has been said of it. And everything 
that has been said retires into the perspective 
of the academic, when one reads, in this vol- 
ume, the words of a trained British soldier 
who experienced and survived it. For stark 
and simple strength, for realism of detail, for 
a complete picturization of the desperate and 
heroic resistance of the sacrificial army, this 
soldier's tale is, and will remain, unequalled 
and unique. This prefatory emphasis is not 
vain or extravagant. It need not fear the 
fact that there is but the turning of a page 
between promise and performance. Here is a 
writing which is of the war, and therefore 
differs from all writings which can only be 
about the war. It conveys to the reader an 
almost paralyzing sense of wonder at the 
steadfastness of Britain's military traditions, 

vi 



FOREWORD 

put to an unexampled test. It shows how mar- 
vellously well a soldier may learn his business 
in advance — when his business is to die. Con- 
cerning one of the most noteworthy accom- 
plishments of the arms of Britain, there will 
survive in print no more compelling and con- 
vincing narrative than this, the utterance of 
one whose trade was fighting and not writing. 



vu 



THE BLACK WATCH 



THE BLACK WATCH 

CHAPTER ONE 

FOR more tlian two years now, I have 
been trying to forget those first months 
of the war. The months when the Black 
Watch and other regiments of the immortal 
"contemptible little army" marched into the 
unknown against the fiercest, most efficient 
military power the world, up to that time, 
had known; the months when hidden enemies 
struck swiftly mystifying blows with strange 
weapons, the more terrible because we did 
not understand them and had never imagined 
their power and numbers. 

For more than two years I have habitually 
sought to keep my mind upon other subjects, 
yet I can recall those days now in the minutest 
detail. I can hear the sudden thrum of the 
masked machine guns like giant partridges 
drumming; can hear the singing roar of the 
Prussian airplanes to which, in those days. 



THE BLACK WATCH 

because of the scarcity of British planes, there 
could be practically no answer; and I can live 
again the frightful nights when we made our 
stand upon the Marne, and, sneaking into 
German outpost trenches, slew the guards 
with jack-knives, thrusting gags into their 
mouths and cutting their throats to prevent 
outcry. 

Those were the days of picturesque and 
shifty fighting. There was movement, the 
rush of cannon from the rear, the charges of 
cavalry, the perils of scouting and patrolling. 
It was little like the slow trench warfare which 
followed. 

The Black Watch — the regiment to which 
I belong — was one of the first to cross the 
Channel. War was declared August 4th, 
which was Tuesday. The first-class reservists, 
of which I was one, received their mobiliza- 
tion orders the next day. 

We assembled at Queens Barracks, Perth, 
the historic headquarters of what we proudly 
maintain is the world's most famous fighting 
organization. Twice before, since 1742, the 
Black Watch had outfitted in Perth to fight in 
Flanders. Almost constantly since that date, 



THE BLACK WATCH 

battalions of the regiment have been fighting 
for Britain In some far-oflF quarter of the globe. 
For the third adventure in Flanders, which 
vas to see the existing personnel of the regi- 
ment practically wiped out In an imperatively 
necessary campaign of blood sacrifice, our 
preparations were brisk and businesslike. 
Within three hours of my arrival at the depot 
at Perth, I was one of a thousand men, uni- 
formed, armed, and fully equipped, who en- 
trained for Aldershot to join our first battalion 
stationed there. 

On the thirteenth of August, after a week's 
stiff training, we boarded the steamship 
Italian Prince and the next day disembarked 
at Havre. 

What awaited us there was much like the 
reception later given to the first American 
troops to land in France. What followed was 
quite different. The American troops, and 
millions of their friends and relatives, are all 
wondering what awaits them — what war really 
will be like — what they will have to do and 
the conditions under which they will do it. 

It is an axiom of war that the first troops 
almost invariably suffer the greatest losses. 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The jBrst American units to go into the trenches 
have suffered a low average of casualties. In 
one respect they are far better off than were 
the first British and French troops to meet 
the Germans. They know what they are 
going up against. Modern warfare is a de- 
termined quantity. They know the methods 
of the men they will fight against and they 
have allies able to instruct them in the art 
of fighting as it is practised to-day. 

We had nothing like that. It was as though 
we were groping in the dark while an unseen 
foe was striking at us. For days we tramped 
through France and Belgium hearing the 
roar of the German guns, feeling the sting 
of the shrapnel, but not seeing our foes. 
Then came the shifty, open fighting, now al- 
most forgotten, which will not be resumed 
until the Germans are on the run. W^hen it 
comes it will be a welcome relief to the men 
who have been battling, like rats, in trenches 
not fit for human beings to inhabit. 

Well, to get back to what happened to us, 
the first ''contemptible little army," in France 
and Flanders. 

The 19th of August found us billeted in a 



THE BLACK WATCH 

town called Boue. We had to remain here a 
few days because the roads were blocked with 
transports going toward the front. The entire 
regiment was allowed to go swimming in a 
near-by canal and, as my chum and I were 
dressing, an old Frenchman gave us each a 
haM-franc piece, saying that it would give us 
good luck and bring us through alive. It was 
the first money he had made as a boy and he 
had kept it ever since. The last I heard of 
my chum was that he had been discharged 
from active service because of wounds, and 
so it would appear his half-franc piece really 
did bring him through, just as mine did me. 
We left Boue on the twenty-first at three 
o'clock in the morning, and we marched until 
three o'clock the next morning. All the time 
we could hear the muffled booming of the Ger- 
man heavy artillery. It sounded just like the 
noise they make on the stage when a battle 
is supposed to be in progress in the distance. 
It excited the men and buoyed them up won- 
derfully, but twenty-four hours is a long time 
to march without sleep, and wheneyer we 
halted the men lay down in the mud of the 
road and lost consciousness — but not for long. 

7 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Within a few minutes after every halt, the 
officers would come among us and rouse us, 
saying that we were badly needed up where 
the guns were growling. It was hard, tiring 
work, but it wasn't half so bad as what we 
got later, when we were retreating. 

We didn't know it, but we were on our way 
to Mons to hold the left flank. 

It was during a short halt in Grande Range 
that we had our first sight of a German 
airplane. We were billeted in the houses and 
stables of the village, and every one came 
running out to look at the plane when the 
thrumming of the engine was heard. When it 
was right over our heads it let fly a rack full 
of steel darts and they came clattering down 
into the village streets. One stuck into the 
pavement in front of our quarters. It was so 
deeply imbedded that not a man in the com- 
pany could pull it out. [I have seen one of 
these missiles go right through a house from 
roof to cellar. They have been known to go 
through a horse and then bury themselves 
in the ground.] 

These steel darts were from eight inches to 
a foot long, cut so that they would fall point 

8 



THE BLACK WATCH 

downward. Dozens of them were contained 
in a single rack, whieli the aviator released 
when he was over his target; the speed of the 
machine caused them to scatter. They would 
go through anything they hit, but they were 
found to be too inaccurate and not so eco- 
nomical as explosives. 

After the plane had passed we were rushed 
to the outskirts of the village, where we began 
to entrench. By morning, we had nearly 
finished the shallow trenches which, in that 
day, were regarded as suflicient protection 
for infantry in the field. At daybreak our 
High Command had information that our 
position along the highway would prove un- 
tenable. Wearily enough, we marched to a 
range of wooded hills where we again en- 
trenched. German heavy shells found us 
there, so we were compelled to retire to an- 
other village, near which we entrenched once 
more, on still higher ground. The German air 
scouts were watching us, however, and in this 
new position a heavier fire from long-range 
artillery found us. 

All of this was on August 25th, two days 
after our forced march of twenty-four hours. 

9 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The weather was extremely hot and we were 
well-nigh exhausted by the work of digging 
three sets of trenches. We lay and "took" 
the German fire. We had already had some 
casualties, the wooden steeple of the church 
in the village on our right was in flames, and 
several houses had been destroyed by the 
German shelling — and we hadn't yet seen a 
German, except the airplane scouts. But they 
were not long coming into view. 

As we lay in our shallow trenches, a big 
shell every now and then falling amongst us, 
another regiment, retreating under heavy fire, 
broke into view from the woods, a mile or 
more in front of our line. We soon made 
them out — the Scots Guards, hotly pursued 
by a superior force of Uhlans, and, as the Ger- 
man commander fondly believed, near cap- 
ture. We, in our trenches, were in a fever 
to get our fire on the Germans but they were 
so close upon the Guards that we dared not 
fire a shot. The Guards, putting up a stiff 
fight directly in front of our position, checked 
the Uhlans suflficiently to enable their own or- 
ganization to continue its retreat, swinging 
over in the direction of our left flank. This 

10 



THE BLACK WATCH 

gave us our chance and we poured a hot rifle 
and machine-gun fire into the pursuing force. 

We were in action against the Boches, at 
last! and, furthermore, we had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing that our fire was effective. 
The Uhlans, whose attention now was forc- 
ibly distracted from the hard-pressed Guards 
to us, immediately advanced in our direction, 
dismounting at 1,200 yards distance and re- 
turning our fire. Leaving their horses behind 
a ridge, they crept up on us to within 500 
yards. 

At this point, a water cart belonging to the 
Guards, which had been hidden in a thicket, 
popped out, and was being driven in the di- 
rection of their regiment. A party of about 
thirty Uhlans galloped after it. We turned 
some of our fire on them. I think they were 
all toppled over, horses and men alike. Then 
another party of about five thousand Uhlans 
made toward us at a gallop and charged, but 
there were few of them that got to within 
one hundred yards of our single shallow trench. 
By this time the Scots Guards had got into 
position and opened fire on the Boche cavalry. 

Three times the Germans tried to secure 

11 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the water cart, thinking no doubt it was an 
ammunition wagon. When the cart was about 
one hundred and fifty yards from our trench 
the horses were shot down by the Uhlans. 
One of the men on it was wounded through the 
arm, and the other coolly filled his water 
bottle and bathed his comrade's wound, re- 
gardless of the Huns who were still peppering 
away. We shouted to the two boys to hurry 
and come into safety. The wounded one's 
answer was: 

"Safety be damned! Some of you Jocks 
come out here and give us a pull with the 
water cart." 

Men of our H company, nearest to the cart, 
asked permission to go to the rescue. Their 
officers acquiesced and sixteen of them rushed 
out, cut the cart loose from the dead horses, 
and dragged it to safety behind the ridge 
which we were holding. Three of the sixteen 
were hit. There were especial reasons for 
this bit of valour. Our own water bottles 
were empty, our water cart drained dry, and 
we were choking with thirst. 

It was now the time of the Scots Guards 
to help us. They kept a steady fire on the 

12 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Uhlans while we retired behind the ridge to 
fair in on the main road to Hautmont and re- 
treat to the next spot where we could make a 
temporary stand. While we were falling 
back to the main road, a man from each sec- 
tion filled three water bottles from the rescued 
cart. We didn't know when we would get 
water again, nor how far our tired feet must 
carry us. In this exhausted state we began 
the furious fatal struggle against an over- 
whelming and irresistible enemy which is 
known in history as the Retreat from Mons. 
Of that fearful time, I have lost track of 
dates. I do not want to remember them. 
All I recollect is that, under a blazing August 
sun — our mouths caked, our tongues parched 
— day after day we dragged ourselves along, 
always fighting rear-guard actions, our feet 
bleeding, our backs breaking, our hearts sore. 
Our unmounted officers limped amongst us, 
blood oozing through their spats. With a 
semblance of cheeriness they told us that we 
must retreat because the Russians were on 
their way to Berlin and we must keep the 
Germans moving in the opposite direction. 
When we got a few minutes' respite there 

13 



THE BLACK WATCH 

would be an issue of ''gunfire" — the tradi- 
tional British army term for tea served out 
to men in action. It was of a nondescript 
flavour, commingling the negative qualities of 
"bully-beef stew" and the very positive taste 
of kerosene oil, the cooks' hurricane lamps 
being stored in the camp-kettles during each 
of our retirements. Invariably — and I mean 
in twenty instances — the shells would begin 
to drop amongst us before we could finish 
our portions, eating, though we did, with 
ravenous haste; and when it was not artillery 
fire that stopped our feeding it would be a 
charge of Uhlans, compelling us to drop half- 
emptied mess-tins and seize rifles. 

We had no artillery to speak of, and very 
few airplanes. If we had had more of the 
latter, there might have been another story. 
The Germans seemed to know every move 
we made, but we were blind. We dropped 
into a field and killed a bullock, skinned it 
and were cooking it. There came the roar 
of a powerful engine; a German plane circled 
over us and went sailing back, signalling our 
position. A few minutes later shrapnel fell 
among us and we went on, some of the men in 

14 



THE BLACK WATCH 

ambulances. Those that were killed we hur- 
riedly buried, but there was not time even to 
put improvised wooden crosses at their heads. 

One of our slightly wounded, in the broad 
accents of lowland Scotch, cursed the Germans 
— ^not for wounding him, but for knocking 
over his canteen of tea. A hail of flying 
shrapnel struck down a cook; the men of his 
section cursed in chorus for the misfortune 
which meant that hunger would be added 
to their other miseries. 

Not once alone did we spring up from eating 
to fight the Uhlans with rifle fire and bayonet. 
It happened a dozen times. Whenever the 
Uhlans came, we fought them off, but always 
we had to retreat in the end, for the German 
reserves were numberless while ours scarcely 
existed. 



15 




CHAPTER TWO 

OST of the time while we were drag- 
ging our exhausted, diminishing 
numbers ahead of the German wave 
of shot and steel, I was on scout duty. For 
a while, I was "connecting file" between the 
Black Watch and the Munster Fusiliers who 
were in rear of us and almost constantly in 
touch with the enemy. I had more than 
one narrow escape from capture or death. 

On one occasion the regiment had been 
deployed to beat off a flank attack. When 
we resumed the march I was sent back to 
get in touch with the Fusiliers. My orders 
were to go to the rear until I got in touch 
with them. I was proceeding cautiously 
along the road when suddenly around a 
curve something appeared before me. My 
rifle was at my shoulder ready to fire. Then 
I recognized what had been a uniform of 
the Fusiliers. 

Have you ever read Kipling's "Man Who 

16 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Came Back"?' If you have, you will have a 
better idea than I can give you of what this 
human being looked like. His face was 
covered with blood. One arm hung limply. 
Just as he made toward me, he fell exhausted 
by the roadside, like a dog that is spent. 
Literally, his tongue hung from his mouth. 
His shoes were cut up and his clothes dangled 
in ribbons beneath which red gashes showed 
in:his flesh where he had torn it in the barbed- 
wire fences he had encountered, crossing fields. 

I asked him what had happened. His lips 
moved and his breath came in more difficult 
gasps, but no word could he utter. I wiped 
his face, and then I recognized in him an 
officer who had been a crack athlete when 
the Munsters were in India and against whom 
I had competed more than once. I pressed 
my water bottle to his lips. After a few 
moments he was able to speak. 

"They are gone!" he gasped; "all of them 
are gone! By God, they died like men; but — 
they — died. " 

"Let me understand you, sir," I begged 
him. "Tell me just what happened." 

"Where are you going?" he almost shouted. 

17 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"I am going back to get in touch with the 
Munster Fusiliers," I said. 

"You can't make the journey," he panted. 
"You'd have to go to heaven — or to hell. 
They caught them in a pocket. Shrapnel 
and machine-guns. There are no Munster 
Fusiliers any more, " 

He was right, practically. The Germans 
had caught them between fires and the 
regiment was cut to pieces. 

Helping the officer as best I could, I hurried 
forward to catch up with my own regiment. 
When I got in touch with it I left the Fusilier 
officer with the commander of the first com- 
pany I met. Then I hurried to the Com- 
pany commander. 

"What are you doing here.f^" he asked. 

"I am here, to report, sir," I said. "There 
is no use trying to get in touch with the 
Fusiliers. They have been cut off. " 

"Your orders were to go back until you 
got in touch with them," he said gruffly. 
"Consider yourself under arrest." 

A non-commissioned officer and two men, 
with fixed bayonets, were put on guard over 
me. I had disobeyed orders, technically, and 

18 



THE BLACK WATCH 

during those first days in France many a 
stern act was necessary, for the army had to 
learn the discipHne of war. 

I would have been tied to a spare wheel 
at the back of an artillery caisson, but as 
they were leading me away I asked to speak to 
my sergeant. I explained to him what had hap- 
pened and he told my company commander, 
who found the officer of the Fusiliers. The 
latter, meanwhile, had been taken care of 
by our officers and was now in condition to 
talk. He spoke to the colonel (Col. Grant 
Duff) , explaining just what had happened and 
telling him that he had directed me to return 
to my regiment. I was liberated, but it 
was a mighty close escape from disgrace, 
which, after all, is worse than death, especially 
to a soldier. 

After that I was sent out to scout on the 
left flank with my partner, Troolen, who was 
of a daredevil disposition and worked in a 
noisy fashion, and so when I saw something 
moving in the brushwood on a ridge we were 
approaching, and heard a sound like the 
trample of horses on the other side, I cautioned 
him to remain where he was while I explored 

19 



THE BLACK WATCH 

it. Troolen swore he could hear nothing and 
was for muddling ahead and running into 
anything that might be there, but I was in 
command and I ordered him to wait. Sneak- 
ing from stone to stone and from tree to tree, 
I worked myself to a little pocket which 
seemed scalloped out of the crest of the ridge 
and found the ground there all freshly 
trampled, with other signs that horses had 
left it recently. There were no wheel marks, 
so I knew that it was cavalry, not artillery. 
From the marks of the iron shoes I could tell 
that they were of a different type from ours. 

Uhlans had been there. 

I signalled to Troolen and he joined me. 
Climbing to the crest of the ridge we saw the 
enemy in large numbers moving toward the 
road on which we were marching, and they 
were ahead of us. As we hurried toward 
our regiment we heard others in the rear. 

As fast as I could, I made my way to the 
Company] commander and reported what I 
had seen. Almost at the same moment we 
were fired upon. The rifle fire was imme- 
diately followed by artillery shelling. Patrols 
on the other flank had made sketches of the 

20 



THE BLACK WATCH 

country and orders were issued for the regi- 
ment to take cover in a gully which was across 
some fields and the other side of a small woods. 
The men ducked through a wire fence which 
was at the side of the road and sections of it 
were torn to let the combat wacgons through. 

As we retreated we kept up a steady fire, 
forcing the Uhlans close to their cover, but 
the artillery continually sprayed over the 
field. 

Thus began for us the Battle of the Oise. 

We had little hope of any support. We 
knew we had to fight it out alone, and there 
was little enough ammunition. I was running 
and ducking for the next bit of cover from 
behind which I could use my rifle, when a 
shell exploded behind me. It threw me from 
my feet but I was unhurt and as I jumped 
up I heard a crashing and splintering a few 
feet away. One of the horses on an ammuni- 
tion wagon had been struck. He was plunging 
on the ground, terrifying his team mate and 
kicking the wagon to pieces. The transport 
officer, C. R. B. Henderson, drew his revolver 
and shot the animal. 

The Uhlans must have had reinforcements 

21 



THE BLACK WATCH 

for they were getting bolder. The bullets 
were cutting up little spurts of dust and turf 
all about us. They were singing overhead 
like a gale in the ropes and spars of a transport 
at sea. The Germans were firing at the 
ammunition wagon in the hope of blowing 
it up. 

I was just about to run for cover again 
when I saw Lieut. Henderson — he who had 
shot the transport horse — walk calmly up 
(leading his own animal) and cut the dead one 
from the traces. I didn't care about being 
killed, but I couldn't leave this officer, who 
was standing there as though he were on 
parade, except that his hands were working 
ten times as fast as they ever did at drill. 
Together we got the dead animal free and 
harnessed the lieutenant's horse to the wagon. 
We used one of the lieutenant's spiral puttees 
to mend the cut and broken harness. The 
driver of the ammunition wagon was holding 
the head of the other horse, shaking his fist at 
the Germans, and swearing at them with a 
heavy Scotch burr. 

Men were running past us like rabbits. 
Some of them were tumbling like rabbits, 

22 



THE BLACK WATCH 

too, when a steel-nosed bullet found its 
mark. I saw others stoop, just long enough 
to get an arm under the shoulders of a com- 
rade and then drag him along. A few lay 
still and a single look into their faces showed 
that it would be useless to carry them. The 
running men dropped behind stones, hillocks, 
trees — anything that was likely to afford 
cover and stop bullets — and their rifles 
snapped angrily at the Germans whose fire 
was getting heavier, but who still did not 
dare an open attack. 

At last the harness was ready. The ammu- 
nition driver leaped to his seat and the wagon 
went careening toward the ravine, swaying 
crazily, with a storm of shots tearing up the 
turf around its wheels. We needed that wagon 
badly. In a moment it would be over the 
crest of the rise and we would be sure of that 
much ammunition to fight with. 

"Get on to the wagon, sir," I shouted to 
the ofiicer, as it dashed forward; but he did 
not heed me. 

"In a second we shall be where we can fight 
them off," was all he said. 

A Uhlan's horse, with empty saddle, 

23 



THE BLACK WATCH 

galloped up to us. I seized the dangling 
reins. 

"Mount him, sir," I shouted. He took 
the reins from my hand and attempted to 
leap into the saddle. The horse was cut and 
bleeding, and unmanageable from terror. He 
backed toward the ammunition wagon, which 
had not yet made the ridge, dragging the 
ojfficer with him. I followed. 

Just as we thus neared the wagon, a shell 
exploded close at hand. The wagon humped 
up in the middle as if it had been made of 
whalebone. It rocked from side to side, 
almost upsetting. Then it settled back upon 
its wrecked wheels. A high explosive shell 
had struck directly under it. The two horses 
fell, dead from shrapnel or shock, and the 
driver toppled from his seat, dead, between 
them, a red smear across his face. 

The small-arms ammunition in the wagon 
had not been exploded. The doors of the 
wagon were thrown open by the concussion 
of the shell, causing the bandoliers of car- 
tridges to scatter. The officer motioned to me 
to help distribute the ammunition to our men 
as they ran past; upon finishing this task we 

24 



, THE BLACK WATCH 

joined the last of our party and were very 
soon over the crest. We had only a few 
machine guns, but we got them in place. 
The Uhlans were charging across the field." 

A shrill whistle blew. ^The machine guns 

began to rattle. Down went horses and 
riders, plunging about where some of our own 
men lay. Our rifle fire, too, was getting 
stronger, better controlled, more co-ordinated. 
We were sheltered; the enemy was in the 
open. His artillery was useless, for we were 
coming to grips. Line after line, they broke 
into the field, lances set. The horses were 
stretching out low over the turf — over the 
turf where a moment later they were to 
kick out the last of their breath, pinning 
under them many a rider to whom we were 
paying the debt of the Munster Fusiliers. 

A bugle sounded. Those that were 

left of the Uhlans galloped off. The little 
m^^chine guns had done their work. 

Our attention was then attracted to a 
heavy fire, directed from some unknown 
quarter upon a near-by field in which was 
confined a large herd of light brown cattle, 
their colour identical with that of our khaki 

25 



THE BLACK WATCH 

uniforms. The animals were milling about 
madly; a dozen of them already were down 
and others were falling each moment. Here 
was one of the humours of war. We laughed, 
believing that the Germans were firing upon 
the dying beasts, mistaking them for us — 
''The Ladies from Hell," as they called us. 

The Scots Greys, which regiment had come 
up at this critical moment to occupy the high 
ground on our right flank about six hundred 
yards away, through the fierceness of their 
enfilading fire, managed to keep the enemy at 
a standstill and so allowed the Black Watch 
to retreat to safety. 

We owed our lives to kind fate in bringing 
the Scots Greys to our timely aid, and to 
them all honour! But for them we should 
have met the fate of the Munster Fusiliers. 

Crawling on their bellies, some of our men 
went out and brought in those of the Black 
Watch who were lying wounded. The others 
we left, for their own men would be there 
presently. For us, it was retreat again. 
After traversing ditches, ravines and barbed- 
wire fences, we finally assembled on the road. 
The artillery was beginning to pound once 

26 



THE BLACK WATCH 

more. We had to trudge on, watching for 
the next attack, planting one bleeding foot 
before another, with nobody knew how many 
days of forced marching before us — marching 
(so we thought) to let the Russians get to 
Berlin. I don't think anything else would 
have induced us to resume our retreat after 
the brush with the Uhlans. 

At evening we found ourselves at the village 
of Oise about six miles from the above- 
mentioned scene. As we arrived at the 
bridge over the River Oise, the engineers 
who were on the other side, and who had 
fused the bridge, shouted to us to keep back, 
but our colonel gave us the order to double. 
We had cleared the bridge by about only 
two hundred yards, when it blew up into 
atoms ! 

After trudging, mostly uphill, in a down- 
pour of rain, we reached a place called Guise 
at 2 A.M. Here we managed to get some 
food. I was glad enough to throw my water- 
proof sheet over me and fall asleep. On 
being awakened, I felt as though I had slept 
for weeks, but found it had only been for one 
hour and twenty minutes. We then received 

27 



THE BLACK WATCH 

some "gunfire" and our first issue of rum. 
We resumed the march. On arriving at La 
Grange, the Camerons, or what was left of 
them, joined us, taking the place of the 
annihilated Fusiliers in our brigade. 

We were so tired that night that I could 
have slept on a bed of nails, points up, but 
we had not been in our billets very long when 
we were ordered out, as the outpost had 
reported the approach of Uhlans in con- 
siderable numbers. 

We were half asleep as we ran down into 
the street to our allotted posts. One of the 
first persons we encountered in the town was 
a Frenchman, raving mad. We asked him 
what was the matter, but he could not reply. 
He jibbered like an ape; his twitching lips 
slavered and foamed. Some of his neigh- 
bours took him in hand and led him away. 
One of them told us his story: 

"The Prussians came in here yesterday. 
There was no one to resist them. They posted 
sentries. Then those who were not on duty 
broke into cellars. Casks of wine were rolled 
up into the streets, and, where squads 
gathered together, there were piles of bottles. 

2§ 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The soldiers did not stop to pull the corks. 
They knocked off the necks of the bottles 
and filled their aluminum cups with red 
wine and white, mixing one type with another, 
and swilling it in as fast as they could drink. 
Dozens of them fell in the gutters, drunk. 
Others reeled through the village, abusing 
and insulting men and women alike. If a 
man resisted, he was shot. This poor fellow, 
whom you have seen, was in his door yard 
with his wife. A Prussian seized her about 
the waist. She struggled. He crushed her 
to him with his brutish arm. His com- 
panions, all drunk, laughed and jeered. The 
woman's clothes were ripped from her 
shoulders in her struggle. Meanwhile others 
bound the husband to one of his own fruit 
trees, so that he could not escape the horror 
of it. One — more drunken, more bestial than 
the others — slashed off the woman's breasts 
and threw them to a dog. The woman 
died." 

This of itself was enough to have made 
us rage against the enemy whom hitherto 
we had regarded as an honourable foe, but 
it was not all. I, with other members of my 

29 



THE BLACK WATCH 

own company, came upon a nail driven into 
the wall of a barn from which hung, by the 
mouth, the lifeless form of a baby. The 
child was dead when we found it, but it had 
died hanging from the rusty nail. I know 
it had, because I saw upon the wall the 
marks of finger-nails where the baby had 
clawed and scratched. And besides, a dead 
body would not have bled. An officer ordered 
the removal of the child's body. 

I do not tell these things for the sake of 
the horror of them. I would rather not tell 
them. I have spent months trying to forget 
them. Now that I have recalled them, I 
wake in the night so horrified that I cannot 
move. But to relate them may serve one 
useful purpose. There are those in America, 
as there were in England, who believed that 
war to repel invasion was justified, but who 
were not enthusiastic for war abroad. America 
entered the war after her patience was abso- 
lutely exhausted, and Americans should be 
devoutly thankful that they can fight abroad 
and not have to endure the presence of a single 
Prussian soldier on American soil. What we 
saw and learned in Guise galvanized our 

30 



THE BLACK WATCH 

weary bodies to new efforts against the van- 
dals whom we were fighting. With clenched 
teeth and curses we turned to fight again. 

The Uhlans got into the outskirts of the 
town and cut down a number of our men, 
but, inch by inch, as they drove toward the 
centre of the village, our resistance became 
stiffer and stiffer. It was like a nightmare. 
The charging horses, the gruff shouts of the 
enemy, the groans of the men who fell beside 
me, were like their counterparts in a dream. 
My finger pressed the trigger of the rifle 
feverishly. Even when I saw the men I 
fired at topple from their saddles and sprawl 
on the cobblestones, I had only a dull sense 
that I had scored a hit. 

Just as we were throwing the enemy back 
in some confusion, a party of British worked 
round a back street and fired on them from 
the rear. A second later a machine gun 
began strewing the ground with horses and 
men. Squads of them threw up their hands 
and cried: ''Kamerad! KameradF' — which 
was not a new cry on the part of the Prussians. 
A young fellow by my side stopped firing for 
a moment, but the rest of us knew better. 

31 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The Camerons had lost a score of men the 
day before because they had taken the 
Germans at their word, and, when they went 
to make them prisoners, a whole company of 
Prussians had risen from behind the crest to a 
hill and shot the Camerons down. So bul- 
lets from our rifles answered the cries of 
''Kameradr 

A few of the enemy escaped down side 
streets, and a number of them remained 
lying where they had been shot. While we 
were on our way back to quarters, a French- 
man came up out of his basement and 
motioned us to follow him. We went into 
the cellar and found half a dozen Prussians 
lying there dead drunk. We made them 
prisoners and sent them to headquarters. 



32 



CHAPTER THREE 

I HAD about got settled in the stable where 
I was billeted, when orders came to 
"stand to." No more sleep that night. 
We took the road and left La Grange behind 
us just as the sun was pinking the sky. It 
was Sunday, and, although we knew war was 
no respecter of the Sabbath, we had not been 
in the field long enough to get the idea quite 
out of our heads that Sunday, somehow, in 
in the nature of things, was a little easier than 
other days. When we halted in a ravine at 
about ten o'clock in the morning, after march- 
ing four hours, we thought after all that it 
was going to be an easier day. I was on 
outpost duty on a side road a little way from 
the main thoroughfare we had been following. 
Suddenly an infernal racket broke out over 
to our left. First there came a few scattered 
cracks of rifle fire. Then I could hear clip 
firing and the rattle of machine guns. I 
learned later that the Scots Greys and the 

33 



THE BLACK WATCH 

12th Lancers had come across about seven 
thousand Germans resting in a wide gully. 
The Greys and the Lancers, catching them 
unawares by cutting down their sentries who 
had no opportunity even to give the alarm — 
charged through them, then back again. 
Three times they repeated their performance, 
while some of our brigade got on to the flanks 
and poured in such a rapid fire that the 
Prussians had no opportunity to re-form to 
meet each repetition of the attack. The 
details do not matter, but they made up for 
the annihilation of the Munster Fusiliers. 

In the newspaper accounts of the cam- 
paign this incident was described as the 
"Great St. Quentin Charge," in which, it 
was asserted, the Black Watch (foot soldiers) 
participated, holding onto the stirrups of 
the Scots Greys. This bit of colouring was 
an inaccuracy. We aided the Greys and the 
Lancers with rifle and machine-gun fire only. 
When the firing ceased and the Greys and 
the Lancers came cantering past, we learned 
from them the details of the Battle of "St. 
Quentin." 

At nightfall our section was still guarding 

34 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the road at a point from which a cart road 
branched off at right angles to the main 
thoroughfare. It was here that the outpost 
received instructions in a few French phrases, 
the main one being ''Voire passe, s'il vous 
plait.'' ("Your pass, please.") This was 
because the road was open to refugees who 
were fleeing from the Boches, and who had to 
show passes before being allowed to go on. 
The absence of the pass meant that the person 
would be sent to headquarters for examination. 
It was quite natural that some of us Scots 
should find it difficult to make ourselves 
familiar with these phrases. However, we 
were all willing to try. One strapping High- 
lander, weary and footsore but daunted by 
nothing, practised the phrases dutifully, 
though the French words were almost lost 
in the encounter with his native Scotch. 
We chuckled, but he merely glowered at us 
indignantly, and then went to take his place 
on sentry go. Two Frenchmen came along 
in a wagon. The Highlander blocked their 
way and sternly uttered what he conceived 
to be the phrase he had been told to use. The 
Frenchmen sat mystified. There was a roar 

35 



THE BLACK WATCH 

of laughter when the Highlander, losmg 
patience, shouted: "Pass us if ye daur!" 
Then his sergeant came to the rescue. 

These two Frenchmen in the wagon were 
the last refugees to pass. Soon afterward, 
from my station farther down the road, I 
heard a clatter of hoofs and caught a glimpse 
of Uhlans' helmets. I had barely time to pass 
the word to the man on the next post and to 
jump behind a log before they came into 
view. They were riding, full gallop into our 
lines, apparently having abandoned ordinary 
scouting precautions in their eagerness to 
strike where and when they might against 
our worn and lacerated forces. We, now, 
had fought so long that we fought mechanic- 
ally. Over my protecting log, I aimed at 
the leading horseman as precisely and care- 
fully as if I had been at rifle practice. When 
I pulled the trigger he tumbled into the road, 
rolled over awkwardly, and lay still. I did 
not feel as if I had killed a man. I felt only 
a mild sense of satisfaction with the accuracy 
of my aim. Bitter hate for the Huns had 
sprung in the heart of every one of us after 
what we had that day seen of their^ savagery. 

36 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I had got my Uhlan at, perhaps, seventy 
yards. His fall checked the squad's advance 
for a moment only. The man nearest grasped 
at the bridle of the dead man's horse but 
missed it. On they all came, galloping reck- 
lessly and yelling, the riderless horse leading 
by a half dozen lengths. As they rode, they 
fired in my direction, but their bullets went 
wide. I felt real compunction as I aimed at 
the head of the leading horse— the one whose 
rider I had shot down with only a sense of 
satisfaction. I could hear our men crashing 
through the bushes by the road as they came 
to my support. I fired. My bullet must 
have struck the riderless horse in the brain, 
for he fell instantly, sprawled out in the path 
of the galloping Huns behind. The horses 
of the leaders stumbled over the fallen animal. 
A rattle of shots from our men completed the 
confusion of the Uhlans. They turned their 
horses and galloped away — some back along 
the road, others across the fields. Several fell 
under our fire; how many we had no time to 
ascertain. 

After that little affair we organized our 
position for a somewhat better defence. 

37 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Leaving a few scouts, far advanced, we sta- 
tioned our men in easy touch with each other 
and then cut down a number of trees and 
telegraph poles and barricaded the road with 
them. There were sixteen of us in the post 
near this barricade, concealed from view and 
able to communicate with each other in 
whispers. The hours dragged on to midnight 
and past. We were weary to the bone — 
half dead for want of sleep — but we dared 
not relax our vigilance for an instant. 

The surrounding country was dense with 
woods. The moon was almost new, so con- 
sequently the poles were quite invisible a 
few yards away. 

At about one o'clock in the morning I 
heard something crackling through the brush 
on the side road. My bayonet was fixed 
and I was ready to fire. The crackling came 
nearer. I crept stealthily forward to meet 
whatever it was. Presently a man stepped 
into the road. "Halt!" I cried. He halted 
at once, and gave the word "Friend." It 
was one of our sentries with a message that 
Uhlans were coming along the road. Three 
men were farther down the road; they had 



THE BLACK WATCH 

hidden so that the Uhlans would pass them, 
the sentry said. 

A section of us concealed ourselves — and 
waited. Presently the Uhlans came into 
sight, proceeding cautiously. Half of us were 
instructed to withhold fire until the Prussians 
should reach the barricade. The remainder 
began to fire. The horsemen scattered to 
each side of the road and returned the fire, 
but as we were not discernible, the shots 
went wild. I judged that they numbered 
about fifty. We dropped a few of them. 
They were becoming enraged — their fire in- 
effective. They mounted; and the leader 
spurred his horse, and, followed by the 
others, galloped in our direction. Their car- 
bines spat red flashes into the night. Their 
bullets were coming closer now, because they 
could determine where we were lying in the 
ditches at the side of the road from the flashes 
of our rifles. 

"Will they see the trees across the road- 
way?" was the thought that darted through 
my mind. If they should, it would probably 
be all up with us. As they came very close 
to the barricade, they did notice it. They 

39 



THE BLACK WATCH 

made a bold leap across, but having under- 
estimated the number of logs there, they 
found themselves in great confusion. Some 
of them were pinned under their fallen horses. 
At this point, we opened fire, which com- 
pleted their discomfiture. Above the sound 
of our rifle firing we could hear the now- 
familiar cry of ''Kameradr^ "Kameradf' It 
only served to infuriate us and made us shoot 
all the faster. 

This might well arouse against us the 
criticism of those who never witnessed atroc- 
ities committed by the Huns, but you must 
remember that our blood had not come down 
to normal from the effects of the sights we 
ourselves had come across. 

At last, we leaped out to make prisoners 
of the trapped Uhlans. Those who could, 
bolted back in the direction they came from, 
but it was a sure thing that twelve of them 
were missing when the roll was called. 

One might consider that a night's work, 
but it wasn't. 

It was now my turn for sentry go on the 
main road, which was still open for vehicles 
of our staflf. This was a post where it was 

40 



THE BLACK WATCH 

thought that, to use an American phrase, 
there would be "nothing doing"; yet it was 
here that I came face to face with one of 
the war's finest examples of Teutonic over- 
assurance — boldness that would have been 
splendid had it not been stupid. 

After I had been at my new post an hour, it 
then being near three o'clock in the morning, 
a motor car came swiftly toward me. I had 
been warned that I might expect staff officers 
to pass, and this, I thought, was undoubtedly 
some of them — otherwise the car would have 
advanced slowly. I stepped into the road and 
awaited its approach. As it neared me I saw 
that the two officers it contained wore the 
uniforms of the British staff. I could see 
the red tabs on their collars. 

There were two telegraph poles across the 
road near my post. Remembering this, I 
showed myself and called for the chauffeur to 
halt. He checked the car's speed but brought 
it ahead slowly. I shouted for the counter- 
sign. I was waiting for the occupants of the 
car to give it, intending to explain to them 
that they would have to stop until I called 
some one to help me remove the telegraph 

41 



THE BLACK WATCH 

poles, when there was a sudden grinding of 
gears and the car shot ahead, full speed. 
I yelled a warning about the poles but the 
words left my lips at about the moment when 
the car bounced over them. 

Until that time I had no suspicion that the 
occupants of the car were not what they 
seemed. Even then, the manner in which 
they "rushed" my post seemed to me only 
due to some inexplicable misunderstanding. 
But I had marched, and fought, and gone 
sleepless and hungry until I was little more 
than a mechanical soldier. I was able to 
realize only that somebody, for some reason, 
had ignored my challenge and rushed a 
sentry post. I swung my rifle in the direc- 
tion of the car, aimed accurately (in an 
automatic way), and pulled the trigger. The 
noise of an exploding tire followed the crack 
of my weapon. The car skidded, twisted 
for a moment, and then went on — ^faster 
than ever. 

My shot aroused our outpost. The alarm 
was given to the first of the connecting sentries 
and passed along quickly until it reached our 
company headquarters, on the roadside oppo- 

42 



THE BLACK WATCH 

site to a chateau in which Brigade Staff 
headquarters had been estabhshed. Men 
half awake, tumbled into the roadway pre- 
paring to fire on something or somebody — they 
didn't know what. It was useless for the 
car to attempt to rush the crowd. Again 
the chauffeur checked it, this time bringing it 
to a full stop. One of the occupants (who, it 
will be remembered, were in staff uniform) 
demanded sharply of the sentry in front of 
the chateau: 

"What is the meaning of this.^ Are there 
nothing but blockheads about here? We have 
been fired on while looking for Brigade head- 
quarters. Somebody should be court-mar- 
tialled for this." 

The sentry saluted them and admitted 
them to the grounds of the chateau. 

Their car had disappeared within the gates 
when I came running down the road and 
informed my company commander what had 
happened. He instantly ordered our men 
to surround the chateau and rushed in him- 
self, following the car up the avenue lead- 
ing through the grounds. The "staff 
officers" had abandoned their car in the 

43 



THE BLACK WATCH 

shadow of a clump of trees and were seeking 
to escape over the garden wail when our 
men captured them. One of them, speaking 
English without a trace of accent, still tried 
to "bluff" our men who seized him, and his 
assumed indignation was so convincing that, 
but for the direct orders from the company 
commander, the men might have released 
him, believing him really an ojBBcer of our 
forces. Each of the two wore the uniform 
of a staff major with all the proper badges 
and insignia. It was found that they were 
German spies with rough maps of the dis- 
position of our retreating forces and oth- 
er valuable information in their posses- 
sion. , I was informed, later, that they were 
shot. 

Before dawn, we got orders to retire again. 
It was always retire — retire. We were ready 
to fight ten times our number if only we 
could stop retiring. 

Shortly after leaving this position we saw 
an airplane overhead. A few minutes later 
shrapnel began bursting in our direction. We 
scattered to each side of the highway, keep- 
ing under cover as best we could. 

44 



THE BLACK WATCH 

We marched all day — God knows how far — 
and finally, between one and two the following 
morning, reached a place which we believed 
to be Pinon. 



45 



CHAPTER FOUR 

AS WE neared Pinon, the sound of 
artillery fire could be heard, and the 
inhabitants were all leaving the town 
in any way that they could. Here I saw 
further effects of Prussian atrocities. 

At this spot, a French woman, supporting 
her mutilated husband as best she could, 
passed us in a buggy. The sight was awful! 
His face and body were almost entirely covered 
with gashes from the Prussians' bayonets. His 
wife's face was as white as death except where 
three cruel cuts had laid it open. Neither of 
this pitiful pair was less than sixty years old. 
Fine "enemies" for soldiers' weapons! 

Beyond this last village we lay in the open 
for a few hours' rest. We were so utterly 
exhausted that officers and men alike threw 
themselves upon the ground and instantly 
were asleep. My last waking recollection 
was of the sight of an officer of the guard 
striding wearily to and fro. He was afraid 

46 



THE BLACK WATCH 

even to sit for fear sleep might conquer 
him. And my next recollection — seemingly 
coming right on the heels of the one I have 
mentioned — was of being shaken by the 
shoulders and having the warning shouted into 
my ear that we had got orders to force-march 
instantly. 

"They say some of the blighters have got 
round us by the flank," said the man who 
shook me. ' ' Make haste ! ' ' 

We had rested less than three hours. Off 
we went on another "retirement. " This time 
under the drive of urgent necessity for speed. 

We must have marched at an extraordinary 
rate, because it was not yet noon when we 
arrived at the outskirts of Soissons. From the 
high ground on our right flank, we could 
see cavalry and artillery in great numbers, 
but whether ours or the enemy's, none of 
us knew — not even the officers. As we arrived 
in the town we were greeted with artillery 
fire; then we knew who it was that awaited 
us. 

We got into a lumber yard and returned 
the fire, but I don't think either side did 
much damage. Their bullets sang through 

47 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the lumber gallery. The melody was one 
that had become familiar to us. 

Retreating through Soissons, we kept up a 
stiflF fight, arriving intact at the farther end 
of the town. Here we came upon fresh and 
terrible evidence of the ruthlessness and wan- 
ton cruelty of the foe which we had first 
confronted but a few days before, then 
believing that the traditions of honourable 
warfare still existed. We came across scores 
of refugees — old men and women — who had 
been beaten and driven from their homes 
without cause. We had passed the dead 
bodies of many townspeople — killed, seem- 
ingly, by artillery fire, yet, in some cases, 
exhibiting suspicious wounds, as if bayonets 
or lances had been used. It was not, however, 
until we were marching through the throng of 
refugees, outside the town, that indisputable 
and utterly shocking proofs of the inhumanity 
of the Huns came to our eyes. In perambula- 
tors we saw wailing children with mangled 
or missing hands. I know that it has been 
hotly disputed that such dastardly crimes as 
these were committed by the Germans. I 
know also that the disputants who contend 

48 



THE BLACK WATCH 

against the truth of these reports never 
marched with us the weary and awful miles 
amid the fleeing and miserable people of 
Soissons. 

These mutilated children I, myself^ and my 
comrades saw. Two at least, I recollect 
with bloody stumps where baby hands had 
been, and one whose foot had been severed 
at the ankle. I saw these things. I saw 
them; and I live to say that others with me 
saw them — brawny Highlanders whose tears 
of pity flowed with those of the mothers who 
wept for heart-break and with those of the 
babies who wept from the pain of the wounds 
which had maimed them. Ay, there were 
witnesses enough; and witnesses remain, 
though many of the Black Watch who that 
day saw and cursed the cowardly brutality 
of the Huns were to lie, but too soon, with 
their voices hushed for ever, so that they may 
not speak of it. But we who stiU live may tell 
of it — and dare a challenge of the truth of 
what we say ! And those who saw, and died — 
paying the toll of that bloody passing from 
the Mons to the Marne — ^have told it, no 
doubt, ere this — before that Court whose 

49 



THE BLACK WATCH 

judgment can impose the eternal punishment 
that the soulless crimes demand. 

There were thousands in the unhappy 
throng of refugees. Some few rode upon 
hay carts, surrounded by such of their belong- 
ings as they had been able hastily to gather. 
Others pushed handcarts containing their 
goods and household articles. Most of them 
however, went afoot, trudging wearily along 
and carrying what they might. There, in 
that sickening scene, it was as it is everywhere. 
The grotesque and the humorous mixed incon- 
gruously with the pathetic. For instance: 
Alongside one perambulator with a wounded 
child in it rolled another one loaded with 
huge rings of bread, on top of which perched 
a parrot, screaming at every one who passed. 

One old lady was trudging along carrying a 
baby which could not have been more than 
two and a half years old, though the weight 
of his chubby frame was bending her almost 
double. I could not speak her language, but 
I made her understand that I would carry the 
child a mile or two and leave him by the side 
of the road. The laughter and baby antics 
of the child brought a ray of sunshine to our 

50 



THE BLACK WATCH 

section, and especially to fathers who had 
left tots behind them in Scotland. About an 
hour later I came to a group by the roadside, 
who recognized the baby, and I left him with 
them, making them understand that the old 
lady would be along later. ' 

One of the last things I remember in leaving 
Soissons was an old man who was carrying 
his furniture and household goods to what 
looked like a modern dug-out in an embank- 
ment and covering it with earth so that it 
would not be discovered. The boys made a 
lot of fun of him, but the laugh was not on 
their lips very long. 

We had just reached the top of a hill on the 
farther side of the city, overlooking the rail- 
road yards and repair shops, when we came 
into direct view of the German artillery 
observers, and shrapnel, began to storm down 
among us. It was like the sudden burst of a 
thunder cloud. There wasn't a moment's 
warning before the smoke puffs began appear- 
ing overhead and the ugly steel splinters 
and slugs whizzed over our heads. 

The regiment deployed in a corn field at 
one side of the road and scattered, moving 

51 



THE BLACK WATCH 

some distance from the highway. The enemy 
contmued to sprinkle the corn with shrapnel 
but we lay flat on the ground until the firing 
ceased. The company's cooks meanwhile, at 
some little distance ahead of us, had prepared 
"gunfire," and the various companies lined 
up in file to receive their well-earned and 
much-desired quota of it. As the cooks 
had to keep ahead of the regiment, there 
was no time lost in disposing of the tea, and 
many of the men had to drink it on the run. 

^A little farther on we halted for a few hours' 
sleep, and at ten minutes to three we found 
ourselves again on the move. We marched 
all that day through a large and dense forest. 
Now and again we were surprised by occa- 
sional artillery shots at the more open sections, 
but the trees helped a great deal in protecting 
us from the enemy's airplanes, and proved a 
hindrance to their tactics. But with the 
cavalry it was a different matter. Uhlans 
harassed us every hour of the day. We had 
only about two machine guns to a battalion, 
and they were worked so steadily and so hard 
that they repeatedly jammed. Once we were 
almost cut off. A party of Uhlans came 

52 



THE BLACK WATCH 

clattering down on our heels driving the rear 
guard in on the support, and for a few moments 
there was what approached a modern barrage 
fire of artillery on the road in our front. 
Luckily for us, the artillery fire slackened for 
some reason and we got ahead before the 
Uhlans could envelop us. 

Later in the day I was serving in the rear 
guard. Suddenly we heard the roaring of a 
motor. We took cover_at the sides of the 
road. Our "'point" — was in the rear, and, 
if there was anything wrong, we knew they 
would inform us. The roaring of the motor 
grew louder. We were so tired that our 
nerves jangled. I had never felt so jumpy. 
There it came around the bend w^ith a Red 
Cross flag flying from it, but it was not one 
of our ambulances. It had great, heavy, 
double wheels and there were Red Crosses 
painted on its sides in addition to the flag 
flying from the front. Our impression was 
that it had gone off its course. The chauffeur 
had released the muffler cut-out and the engine 
was running very quietly now. A man sitting 
beside the driver and leaning far out over the 
side was yelling in broken English that they 

53 



THE BLACK WATCH 

were lost, and he gesticulated toward the 
body of the car in such a way as to make us 
think that he had badly wounded men with 
him. 

We began scrambling back onto the road. 
Our war was not against the wounded and 
sufifering, so we would let them pass. 

Suddenly the ambulance stopped; the sides 
of it quickly rose; machine guns showed 
their ugly muzzles. 

"Br-r-r-r-r t-t-t," they began to sputter. 

I leaped backward and fell headlong into 
the ditch. Everybody was jumping for cover. 
The bullets lashed the road and ricocheted 
far upon it. Scarcely a man of us was hit, 
but we were in wild confusion. I cannot 
describe the scene. No one seemed to think 
of putting his rifle to his shoulder. The 
horror of it — the passionate anger against 
such vile trickery — drove us into a rage; but 
— for the moment — it was an impotent rage. 
We seemed to be at their mercy. 

Then the platoon commander's voice rose 
above the rat-a-tat of the machine guns: 

"Steady, men! Fire at will, but pick your 
men carefully . " 

54 



THE BLACK WATCH 

We had heard him speak in the same tone 
on parade. It brought us to our senses. The 
edge of the ditch on each side of the road 
fairly flamed with the sputter of rifle fire. 
The "ambulance" was riddled. A Prussian 
officer toppled into the middle of the road. 
Half a dozen men sprang from the ditch and 
rushed at him with bayonets. They killed 
him like a rat. There was no compunction 
about it. 

There was now heard the thrumming of 
more motors approaching. Round the turn 
in the road they came. This time it was 
transports — laden with German troops. There 
was no attempt at disguise with this mob. 
They thought that their camouflaged battery 
would by now have done its dirty work. 
Sweating and tugging and straining, we 
managed to topple the "ambulance" over in 
the road. The trucks came dashing up as we 
retreated — retreated only to get in touch with 
our support. The men cheered wildly as 
two of our own machine guns came up. We 
turned the wee fellows loose on the Germans — 
gave them a taste of their own medicine. 

Some of them came running toward us 

55 



THE BLACK WATCH 

shouting: ^' Kamerad I Kamerad!'^ We shot 
them down as they ran — shot them without 
hesitation — after the dastardly trick they had 
played on us. Probably they were even then 
trying another ruse. 

The fight surged backward and forward. 
The Germans tried to press ahead. 

Then something happened w^hich we had 
not expected. A burst of shrapnel sprayed 
over the Germans. In a few seconds there 
vv^as another. Then two shells exploded at 
once — three — ^four! A rain of fire, as the 
French say, was upon them. We were getting 
support from our own artillery. That was 
something new and it put heart into us. 

The regiment re-formed and proceeded with 
an orderly retirement, while the artillery, 
like a barrier of steel, held the enemy at his 
distance all the rest of the day. We were 
near to exhaustion and some of the men 
dropped out of the ranks only to die of the 
strain. Although our pipers were as weary 
as the rest of us, they sensed that we needed 
encouragement, and with great effort struck 
up a march. Very soon we had left the 
forest behind us. 

56 



THE BLACK WATCH 

It is impossible to describe the effect of the 
skirl of those pipes that day. It was Hke a 
message from Heaven. We had not heard 
them since Mons, and now they were leading 
us out of a forest that was a picture of weird- 
ness itself; leading us out into the beautiful 
open country. What joy we felt! 

At this time we were retiring almost directly 
toward Paris. For seventeen hours we 
marched with halts only when it was abso- 
lutely necessary. We had been in France four 
weeks, though it seemed like four years. 

One of our chief discomforts was the lack of 
water. Toward evening we halted alongside 
a cucumber patch. The men simply went 
wild, running into the field and sucking the 
juicy young cucumbers. I "drank" twelve 
myseK, but we had not had time to satisfy 
ourselves when the Prussian artillery got the 
range again and we had to get out of the 
field — those of us who could. I have heard 
some "cussing" during my career in the 
army, but I don't think I ever Hstened to 
anything quite like the brand that accom- 
panied our departure from that field. 

After marching a considerable distance, 

57 



THE BLACK WATCH 

we were billeted in barns in a small village. 
This was a cheering circumstance, as the 
farmer gave us chickens and allowed us to 
get vegetables to make up a real warm meal, 
which I can assure you was enjoyed royally. 
We expected to stay here some time, so we 
made for the barns and lay down among the 
hay. 

I don't think you could possibly form an 
idea of the utter weariness of the men or of 
the manner in which we were incessantly 
harassed. We never got a decent chance to 
eat, drink, or rest. The incidents of the 
cornfield and the cucumber patch are typical. 
Many men died of sheer exhaustion. When 
we entered the barn I was so absolutely 
petdred out that I went to sleep almost be- 
fore my body touched the hay. 

We had been in the barn only about two 
hours when there was a great commotion. 
I waked up half suffocated, but I didn't 
care. Somebody kicked me in the ribs as I 
was turning over to sleep again. 

" The barn's on fire!'' he yelled. 

There was an odour of paraffin. It seemed 
that some German agent had started the fire. 

58 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Probably it was the owner of the place, using 
German "kultur." Germany had left scores 
of such spies planted in the country, after 
1871. 

After the fire in the barn we got a couple 
of hours more sleep, then moved off again 
about three o'clock in the morning. We 
were on the Metz road going east, but did 
not know it until our officers informed us 
that we were heading toward the Franco- 
German frontier. They were ever optimistic 
and helped to lighten the burdens of men 
who were on the last lap by carrying some- 
times the rifles of four of them at one time 
on their shoulders. In the afternoon we came 
to Coulommiers. Most of the inhabitants 
were leaving, and a herald — such as existed 
in the Middle Ages, — was going through the 
town beating a kettle-drum and crying to 
all the civilians to take everything they 
could carry and leave the place. But this 
herald was a middle-aged woman. 

About two o'clock that same day, we were 
on the banks of a stream and the whole 
regiment began making preparations for a 
swim. Some were already in the water, 

59 



THE BLACK WATCH 

but had scarcely got entirely wet when the 
German artillery began churning the water 
with shrapnel. The bodies of many of my 
comrades went floating down stream. 

That night my company guarded a road 
protected by barbed-wire entanglements and 
lined with poplar trees; just the kind pf road 
you so often see pictured in France or Bel- 
gium. The main body of the regiment was 
dug in the side of a hill overlooking this 
road. It was again the luck of my section 
to protect the road some two hundred yards 
in advance of the regiment. We entrenched 
ourselves on each side in such a manner that 
one could advance within ten yards without 
detecting our position. We placed a few 
strands of the barbed-wire fencing across 
the road a little distance ahead of us. 

About midnight, I was awakened by some- 
one tugging at me. It was the sentry. 
He pointed far up the road, and, as there 
was a certain amount of moonlight, I could 
see something moving between the tall poplar 
trees. He asked me what it was and I 
told him that it was our cavalry. How- 
ever, I told him he should inform the section 

60 



THE BLACK WATCH 

commander; and then I rolled off to sleep 
again. 

Presently I felt a second tug at me. 
On looking up I found it was our sergeant; 
he whispered: ''Be ready to spring up at a 
moment's notice." The others were already 
in position. In the dim light I could see 
the queer-shaped lance-caps that the Uhlans 
wore. 

"Halt! Who goes there?" shouted the 
sentry. 

"Freunden," said a voice in reply. 

With that they were almost on the barbed- 
wire, and we greeted them in the way such 
"friends" should be greeted. There was a 
tremendous turmoil. All but two fell into 
our hands. To be exact, fifteen were cap- 
tured and three killed. Three of the captives 
were officers. 

One of the officers, when searched, was 
found to have in his possession a novelty 
mirror with the photograph of a girl on the 
back. He made no fuss about giving up 
anything but the mirror. This, however, he 
insisted upon having back. Finally the ex- 
amining officer. Major Lord George Stewart 

61 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Murray, became suspicious and decided that 
the Boche's sentiment was not on the level. 
He stripped the photograph off the back. 
Under it he found a thin sort of skin and, 
underneath that, pasted to the back^of it, 
a paper covered with writing. He returned 
the mirror to the German officer, but he 
retained the paper; and the writing gave 
the staff much satisfaction. 

All night long we were troubled by similar 
parties of Uhlans. They were evidently feel- 
ing out for an attack, but, not being able to 
gauge our strength, they never made it. 
Some of our boys crawled out fromj the 
trenches to rescue a trooper with a broken 
leg, and they said that only a few paces 
away they could not distinguish the trench 
or tell how many men were there. If the 
Uhlans had only known the facts they could 
have swarmed over us. In the morning we 
collected souvenirs from the field. One of the 
fellows picked up a lance with two bullet holes 
clean through the steel tubing shaft. 

Our next stop was at Nesl^s. We drew up 
alongside a field of beets just before going 
into the village, and most of the men fell out 

6^ 



THE BLACK WATCH 

of ranks and lay down alongside the road. 
Some were in the ploughed earth between the 
rows of beets. The artillery had been firing 
at us most of the day, but they hadn't found 
the range. There were some heavy guns 
hammering at us, as we could tell from the 
explosions of the shells. 

As usual, when it came time for a rest, 
the Germans began to locate us. One of 
the heaviest shells I had yet seen exploded 
in the field and scattered beets all over the 
surrounding country. A member of our com- 
pany right near me was stunned for a few 
seconds. 

Before any one had recovered himself 
enough to go to his aid, he sat up unsteadily, 
his head wobbling, his face a mass of red. 
A few yards behind him was his forage cap. 
He put his shaking hand up to his head; 
mthdrew it, then looked at his fingers which 
were dripping red. 

"Ah weel, lads, AhVe got it noo!" he 
lamented. "Ah'm sair-r-r-tainly din fur 
'cause Ah dinna feel a theng. Ah on'y 
wesh Ah could 'a got ane o' the deevils 
tae me credit afore this!" 

63 



THE BLACK WATCH 

By this time two or three of us had run 
forward and were wiping his head and face. 
There was no evidence of a wound. Then 
suddenly some one roared with laughter. The 
man was covered with the red juice of beets 
and was entirely unhurt. He had only been 
stunned. This is the way Mars jests. His 
humour is always mixed with grimness. 

We learned that we were to stop at Nesles 
overnight, and this, coupled with the fact 
that we had commenced advancing, put new 
enthusiasm into us. 

Before we arrived there were large vine- 
yards at each side of the road leading up 
a hill overlooking a beautiful little town, on 
the south bank of the Petit Morin River. 
We had a few minutes' halt within reach 
of the lovely French grapes, which hung most 
temptingly in clusters, so it was quite natural 
that some of the boys who were extremely 
thirsty and warm from the scorching sun, 
should partake of this inviting fruit. 

Discipline in the British army is second to 
none; and we were commanded to observe 
it strictly while on the retreat. One of our 
orders was "not to pluck fruit," as it came 

64 



THE BLACK WATCH 

under the category of "Looting. " Very soon 
the few fellows who had disobeyed that order 
were rolling on the ground, holding their 
stomachs. Later we were told that the 
grapes on both sides of the road had been 
poisoned by the Germans. This was punish- 
ment enough for those who had eaten the 
fruit, and a lesson that every one of us 
"took home." 



65 



'CHAPTER FIVE 

AS WE — the other scouts and I — ad- 
vanced, firing details, which had been 
left behind under close cover by the 
Germans, did a good deal of execution amongst 
us. The hay-stacks, particularly, gave us a 
great deal of trouble. More than once, one 
of them would be disrupted as though by 
some sort of explosion from the inside, and 
machine guns would begin spraying our 
skirmishing lines. So it became an important 
part of our scouting operations to search 
all hay-stacks and farm houses. And con- 
tinually we were under what, ordinarily, 
would be termed heavy fire. 

The ground over which we were passing 
had been the scene of sharp fighting, earlier. 
We came across scores of dead Germans and 
a few French. In the midst of a field dotted 
with a particularly large number of hay- 
stacks was a farm house. When we were 
about thirty or forty yards from it and on 

66 



THE BLACK WATCH 

opposite sides, we leaped up and dashed 
toward it as hard as we could run. It is a 
fact that this is the safest way for patrols 
to approach a house. If any of the enemy 
are inside, they become excited when they 
see men rushing toward them and are likely 
to open fire — instead of waiting until the 
scouts get inside and then killing them 
noiselessly. Their aim is also more uncer- 
tain at a running man than it is at one 
sneaking along slowly, and, most important 
of all, whether the scouts are killed or not, 
the noise of the rifle fire alarms the main 
body and the party in the house is detected. 
Troolan (my scout partner) and I arrived 
at this particular farm house on a dead run 
without having drawn any fire or detected 
the least sign of life. We tried all the doors; 
they were locked. The windows, too, were 
bolted from the inside. Troolan smashed one 
in, got inside, and opened the door for me. 
We searched the building rather hurriedly 
and discovered no sign of any one having 
been there. Just as we were going out, 
I had a premonition that I ought to look 
further. 

67 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"Wait outside and watch," I said to 
Troolan, "and I will take another look 
around." 

He posted himself outside. Very cau- 
tiously I stepped down the cellar stairs. 
The boards seemed to squeak and groan 
like a lumbering farm wagon. It was dark 
as pitch, but I did not dare to make a light. 
It would have been fatal if any one really 
was lurking there. Something scurried across 
the floor. I felt the hot blood surge under 
my scalp. For a second I expected to see a 
red flash in the utter darkness and feel a 
bullet smash into my body. Then I dis- 
covered that it was only a rat. 

I thought I heard breathing. I stood 
stock still, and strained my eyes on every 
side till they ached as if they would burst 
from their sockets. I was trying to catch 
the reflection of some stray beam of light 
from the eyes of a man or the barrel of an 
automatic, but I do not believe that so 
much as a pin point of light was diffused in 
that whole black pit. Suddenly I almost 
laughed aloud, although I knew that to do 
so might mean instant death. The breathing 

68 



THE BLACK WATCH 

that I heard was my own. Cautiously I 
thrust out my foot to descend another step. 

There was a shout outside. 

"Run to the door quickly," Troolan was 
yelling. 

I leaped up the stairway regardless of 
what might be behind me and dashed toward 
the kitchen door to get outside the house. 
Just as I did so, I saw a shadow flit along 
the ground past the kitchen window. Guess- 
ing where the man must be who cast it, I 
fired through the wooden wall of the kitchen 
at about the height of the average man's 
breast. Then in a couple of bounds I was 
outside. There stood Troolan looking very 
much surprised and grieved when he saw 
me. His rifle was half drawn up to his 
shoulder, and he was in the attitude of 
getting ready to fire. 

Perspiration broke out on my forehead. I 
realised that the shadow had been Troolan's 
and from the look of him I had come very 
nigh to killing him. 

"What the h was that for, ye muckle 

galoot .f^" he threw at me. 

"I saw a shadow," I said, "and let drive." 

69 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"Ye're an auld wife, that's what ye' are," 
said Troolan disgustedly, "a'firin' after 
shadows. " 

"Never mind now," I said, "what did you 
see?" 

"I saw a big boche," said my scouting 
partner, "or, at least, I thocht I did. Maybe 
I've been takin' you fur him the same as 
you did me." 

"Maybe," I said, "but the best plan is 
for you to watch this house while I go and 
report. " 

"All right," said Troolan. I started away. 
I had not gone a dozen paces when I heard 
scuffling behind me. I turned round and 
started to run back at the same instant. 
What I saw lent speed to my feet. The 
helmet of a German officer was just coming 
through a window. Troolan, who had evi- 
dently been concealed from the German's 
view, was aiming a blow at his head with the 
butt of his rifle. 

As usual, Troolan had lacked finesse. He 
had rushed so clumsily to the attack that 
both the officer and I had heard him. The 
German dodged just in time to evade the 

70 



THE BLACK WATCH 

blow, and Troolan's rifle banged the window 

sill. 

How the boche did it, I do not know,_but 
it seemed as though he was propelled by 
strong steel springs under his feet. He fairly- 
shot out of the window like a dart from a 
catapult and landed on Troolan's neck. Both 
men went down. I dared not fire. They 
were rolling over and over one another, 
kicking and striking with their fists. The 
boche was fouling Troolan in a way that 
would be prohibited in wrestling. I jumped 
into the fray and tried to find the German's 
throat, but the men were so entwined that 
it was hard to get a hold on him. Suddenly 
a heavy boot struck me in the pit of the 
stomach, and I rolled over and over to find 
myself gasping for breath a dozen feet away. 

Painfully I got up and staggered toward 
the struggling men, but I was too late to be 
of any use. After a particularly frantic 
struggle Troolan managed to get on top of 
his adversary, with his right arm free. His 
mighty fist came smashing down full in the 
other's face. The German staggered to his 
feet, but Troolan leaped clear of him, seized 

71 



THE BLACK WATCH 

his rifle, and, this time, brought the butt 
down with a thud on the other's skull. 
Then Troolan burst into some of the most 
profane Scotch it has been my doubtful 
privilege to hear. 

"What are you cursing about?" I asked 
him. 

"I want to mak shair that Deevil's deed!" 
he said. 

Later that day we were relieved by other 
scouts. 

Toward nightfall troops began to arrive 
on either side of us in great numbers, and 
dispatch riders with various insignia con- 
tinually dashed up on their speedy motor- 
cycles to our brigade headquarters. Every- 
one realized that we must be approaching 
something big, for previous to this we had 
been fighting, for the most part, isolated 
engagements. As a matter of fact, it devel- 
oped that we were preparing for the Battle 
of the Marne. 

We remained at this spot all night. At 
dawn, orders were given that we were to 
take the high ground the Germans were 

^ 72 



THE BLACK WATCH 

occupying a few miles ahead of us. Our 
brigade marched in skirmishing order, fol- 
lowed by the cavalry and artillery. We 
passed scores of dead — some French but 
the majority German. Dead horses were 
intermingled with the bodies of men. 

We were under heavy shell fire until we 
descended into the shelter of a gully. < Here 
we met a few of the French Chasseurs. Four 
or five farms were clustered together, 'and 
the sights we encountered in the yards and 
on the roads were the worst we had yet 
seen. Pools of congealed blood; bodies of 
dead soldiers partly covered with sacks and 
straw; the barns so filled that the feet of 
dead men were protruding. The Chasseurs 
appeared very pale and silent. 

The ridge was densely covered with hazel- 
wood. We got the command to fix bayonets 
and extend into skirmishing formation. The 
Black Watch with the Camerons were to 
take the ridge, while the Coldstreams and 
Scots Guards were to be in reserve. 

An incident occurred during the ascent 
of the ridge which illustrated the reckless, 
devil-may-care spirit of the men in our 

73 



THE BLACK WATCH 

battalion in a way which impressed even 
me. The front-hne men came upon a lot 
of blackberry bushes. They began pluck- 
ing and eating the berries, shouting gleefully 
to one another to signal the discovery of 
an especially well-laden bush. Until the 
officers sternly warned them of the peril 
they invited by such noise and incaution, 
you would have thought they were school- 
boys on a lark. 

I was one of the scouts sent up the ridge 
to try to locate the position and number of the 
enemy and report at once. Wriggling along 
on my belly like a snake, I made my way 
foot by foot. I could hear our fellows shout- 
ing, and it rather disconcerted me as I felt 
they would attract the enemy's attention, 
but I continued on my way nevertheless. 

I never knew that so many sharp stones 
could be scattered in so short a distance. 
It seemed as though some of them were 
forcing themselves clean in between my ribs. 

Presently I came to a hastily constructed 
barbed-wire entanglement at the edge of a 
thicket. Ahead of me was a clear rising 
space of about fifty yards which did not 

74 



THE BLACK WATCH 

show from below. Beyond this was a pla- 
teau. Before advancing farther I peered 
through the thicket and scanned the crest. 

Suddenly I heard a familiar, unmistakable 
rattling. It was the opening and closing of 
rifle bolts. My skin prickled all over. I 
knew that it meant troops getting ready 
to fire and I had no doubt the Germans had 
discovered me and were preparing to shoot. 
I wriggled backward a few feet into the 
thicket, expecting every second to hear the 
crash of a volley and to pass into oblivion. 
But the crash did not come. Evidently 
they had not seen me. 

Under cover of the underbrush I crept 
forward again until I could see the helmets 
of German troops in the woods atop of the 
ridge. They outnumbered our troops. I 
crawled to the left until I came to a point 
where I could command a view of the crest, 
where they were in waiting, but apparently 
unaware of our near approach. I crawled 
back until I was out of sight. Then I leaped 
to my feet and ran as if I were once more 
on a cinder track in the old barrack days. 
Brambles tore my hands and face and 

75 



THE BLACK WATCH 

lacerated my bare knees, but I did not heed 
them. 

I had seen enough, and the sooner we could 
make the attack the better. Besides, they 
might even yet see me, and I preferred the 
scratching of brambles to the bite of a steel 
bullet. 

In safety I got back to our lines. The 
boys could see from my excitement that 
something was up. 

"Did you find them, Joe.^" they shouted. 

"Where is the adjutant?" I demanded. 
Somebody told me, and I hurried to him. 

"How many of them are there.^" he asked 
when I told what I had seen. 

"All I can say, sir, is that they outnum- 
ber us and are waiting," I answered 

Orders were given for an immediate attack. 

I went forward again, but this time in my 
own place in the company, with men either 
side of me, and with real business ahead. 
We made our way in silence through the 
woods toward the terrace. Still the Germans 
did not fire. We wondered whether they 
were really unaware of our approach, or, 
just holding their fire for close range .^ This 

76 



THE BLACK WATCH 

was the first time we had been in a big attack 
of this kind and we knew that bayonet work 
would be the end of it. 

The answer to our questioning soon came. 
It was in the form of a burst of fire from 
the ridge above us. Twigs fell all around 
us and here and there a man dropped too. 

We could not do much in the way of 
returning the fire, for we had not yet reached 
the open. The blood was pounding through 
my arteries. I felt much as I used to before 
the start of an important race. The second 
platoon to my right went forward, while 
our fire covered their advance. Crouching 
low, the men dashed on at full speed. Here 
and there one of them toppled backward. 
Then the platoon nearest to us advanced. 
It would be our turn next. We ceased firing 
and prepared to rush. Our lieutenant looked 
at the commander, whose whistle had just 
blown a shrill blast. He signalled for us 
to go forward. 

Like one man, we leaped to our feet. The 
thin line swept out onto the open terrace. 
Each man had but one friend then, his 
rifle with the bayonet fixed. 

77 



THE BLACK WATCH 

We had arrived at the point where I had 
previously encountered the barbed wire. 
Throwing ourselves flat on the ground, we 
returned the enemy's fire. After cutting the 
barbed-wire, we awaited orders. The word 
came to charge. With one mighty shout, 
we made for the crest. When one goes out 
with the bayonet he goes to kill or to be 
killed, but with the former in mind. 

The German fire thundered out as though 
it had been tripled. The trees and bushes 
were cut as by scythes, but they were only 
shooting in a direction — they could not see 
us clearly. Up, up we went. Loose stones 
rattled under our feet, and went tumbling 
down the slope, but we picked ourselves 
up and pushed always forward and upward. 
At last we saw the Germans who were firing 
at us over their trenches. Our men were 
yelling like demons. 

Then the German fire stopped as though 
every man had, on the instant, been struck 
dead. An instant later, they leaped out of 
their trenches, with bayonets fixed, and dashed 
toward us. Every man among them looked 
a giant. One of our boys was ahead of all 

78 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the others. He was a bow-legged Httle fellow, 
and, even at that moment, he looked ludi- 
crous with his bare knees and kilts. A big 
German was over him. The little fellow 
seemed to drop his rifle. He had caught 
it in both hands, close under the handle of 
the bayonet. He straightened up, heaving 
his shoulders, brought up his forearms with 
a jerk, and the steel blade drove through 
the soft spot in the German's throat — just 
under the chin. The Prussian's last cry was 
drowned by the fierce yell of the little bow- 
legged man. It was the spirit of the bayonet 
which made him yell like a savage. 

There was no time to see what was going 
on around me any more. , We were fighting 
knee to knee. I can but faintly recall the 
actual close fighting, but I seemed to make 
good use of my bayonet. Sometimes I w^as 
knocked off my feet, but the next instant 
I was up again. I was not thinking of what 
might happen to me. It was fight, fight, 
and keep on fighting. One seemed imbued 
with a superhuman strength. 

One of our boys seized a German's rifle, 
and wrested it from him by a trick which 

79 



THE BLACK WATCH 

seemed to break his arm. A little farther 
away two Germans were rushing upon one 
man. Mechanically, I leaped into action. 
The butt of my rifle felled the nearest boche. 
Somebody knocked the rifle out of my hands. 
Somehow I ducked a thrust made at me and 
ran in on the German who made it, and 
smashed my fist on the point of his jaw.,^ 

They began to waver now. They did not 
seem to care for our company with our kilts 
and our steel — we whom they later learned 
to call the "Ladies of Hell." (Because of 
our kilts.) At last they broke and ran. 
We were after them., A machine gun rattled 
away at the head of a path down which 
some of our boys were dashing. It almost 
wiped out B company before we could 
silence it. 

Just over the crest of the ridge we came 
upon their combat wagons and a field gun. 
Three men and an officer were trying to 
save the gun. The men who were hitching 
the horses to it broke and ran. The officer 
did not hesitate a second to shoot them in 
the backs. Then he fell with one of our bullets 
through his head. We captured the gun. 

80 



THE BLACK WATCH 

By this time I was regaining my proper 
senses. A feeling of exhaustion seemed to 
envelop me; my legs wobbled. Then I 
dropped to the ground. Every bone, muscle, 
and nerve ached, and I felt as though 
I had just been through a tough wrestling 
match. 

When we had counted up, we found that 
two company officers. Captain Drummond 
and Captain Dalgleish, had been killed. We 
picked up about fifty German rifles and broke 
them over the trunks of trees. Our casualties 
were one hundred and fifty killed and only 
God knows how many wounded. 

Our prisoners amounted to about one hun- 
dred and forty . Among them was a man who 
had worked in London as a watchmaker. In 
very broken English, he asked if he could get 
his job back if he were sent to London. We 
told him that he would get a job all right, but 
that somebody else would see to the watch- 
making. 

After capturing the crest, upon looking 
from the far side, we could see great numbers 
of German cavalry and infantry in retreat. 
The plateau was strewn with I should judge 

81 



THE BLACK WATCH 

about five hundred dead bodies of the enemy. 
Their horses that had been wounded were left 
behind — left to die. We let go a few volleys 
of long-range fire to hurry the boehes on their 
way. 



82 



CHAPTER SIX 

WE had very little rest after the fight I 
have just described. We were get- 
ting down to the real business of war. 
It was fighting, and not the incessant re- 
treating, which had been sapping the life out 
of us for weeks. You must remember, also, 
the weight that each man carried during all 
those long wearisome retreats. Each of us 
had his heavily plaited kilt; his pack contain- 
ing great coat, flannel shirt, two pairs of socks, 
waterproof sheet, extra shoes, and towel; his 
canteen, rifle, entrenching tool, bayonet, and 
ammunition — the whole totalling ninety 
pounds weight. 

Immediately after the fight, in shallow, 
narrow trenches, we began to bury our dead. 
Before the work was finished, a detachment 
of Uhlans fired on us, but one of our com- 
panies drove them across a rivulet and over 
the crest of the next ridge. 

One of our pipers — Dougall McLeod was 

83 



THE BLACK WATCH 

his name — ^had lost his chum in the fight. 
McLeod was a sentimental sort of chap, with 
little heart for the work of killing. He was 
sitting on the ground fastening together a 
couple of strips of wood to make a little cross 
for his chum's grave — or rather his chum's 
share of the one long grave. The tears were 
trickling down his grimy, bloody cheeks, and 
he wasn't ashamed of them, nor of the furrows 
they cut in the caked dirt. It was just before 
he finished his work that the Uhlans opened 
fire. McLeod threw the loose pieces of the 
cross to the ground, and sprang to his place 
in the firing line. I had never seen the pas- 
sion of hate in his eyes before. All that the 
Germans had made him suffer had never 
aroused him, but now that they interrupted 
him in the work of making a homely mark 
for his friend's grave, he was fired by the 
will to kill. I was only a few paces from him 
in the firing line, and, with the tears still 
streaming down his face, I could hear him 
mutter every time his rifle crashed: 
"Damn you! You will, will you.^^" 
We again took to the road. All that day 
we marched under occasional shell fire. Along 

84 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the sides of the roads, we passed the wrecks 
of scores of German combat wagons and sup- 
ply trains. Sometimes there was a field piece 
amid the debris. Toward evening we heard 
terrific firing on our right, but we were not 
called to enter the engagement. Later we 
learned that a French division had been 
pretty badly cut up in running the boches 
out of a strong position. 

Their wounded passed us on the road. 
You cannot imagine a more pitiful or a more 
noble sight. Limping along, supported by 
their comrades, came scores of men, whose 
every step was costing them agony but who 
smiled at us as we cheered them. Straggling 
down the road, as we swung along, came 
groups of wounded, each supporting the other 
as best he could. In one case in particular, a 
man who had been badly maimed and was 
using his rifle as a crutch, was also supported 
by a comrade who had been blinded. If 
there had ever been doubt in our minds as 
to the mettle of our allies, it was dispelled 
now, as the lame and the blind hour after hour 
filed past us. 

We billeted that night at a place, the name 

85 



THE BLACK WATCH 

of which sounded Hke Villers. I remember 
that a detachment of French were there before 
us, and a peasant pointed out to me a row of 
trees where they had hung fifteen Germans 
captured there, because, when the Uhlans had 
taken the town fifteen of them had brutally 
assaulted and outraged a farmer's wife and 
his daughter, twelve years of age. The ropes 
were still dangling from the trees. 

Volunteers were asked for, to go down and 
get the mail. Practically every one offered 
his services. To get mail from home gave the 
same sensation as scoring a victory, and we 
were all eager to do our bit. This was about 
10.30 P.M. and the rain was coming down in 
torrents. About two miles behind us lay the 
mail strewn around the road. The ambulance 
carrying it had been struck by a shell. Our 
volunteer mail carriers gathered the letters 
up, and, needless to say, there was much ex- 
citement among us on their arrival. Nothing 
else was thought of for the moment except 
the news from home. 

The next few days were uneventful. To- 
ward evening on the thirteenth of September, 
I was scouting on our left flank. The German 

86 



THE BLACK WATCH 

heavy guns had been keeping up a steady 
searching fire all day, but little damage had 
been done. 

I had got so accustomed to the roar of the 
explosions that they did not bother me very 
much. After a while a man gets so used to 
the sound of a shrieking shell in the air that 
he can tell by instinct when one is coming 
his way in time to throw himself flat on the 
ground. I had not yet reached this stage of 
proficiency. A shell did come my way. How 
close it came I will never know, because all 
of a sudden I felt as though my head were 
bursting. I seemed to be tumbling end over 
end and being torn to pieces. My ear drums 
rang and pained excruciatingly. I thought 
to myself "I am dying," and I wondered how 
I kept feeling a sort of consciousness although 
I must be already torn to bits. 

Then I found myself sitting up on the 
ground with a man from my patrol support- 
ing my head. 

Now, this is the strange thing. I was in- 
stantly and absolutely oblivious when the shell 
exploded. All the sensations I have described 
came when I was recovering consciousness. 

87 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Surgeons have told me since then that they 
were exactly what the shell caused when it 
exploded, but that my brain did not register 
them until my senses returned. My clothes 
were scorched and even my hair was singed. 
I do not know why I was not killed, but in a 
few hours I was ready for duty once more. 
The man who picked me up said that the shell 
had burst some little distance overhead. If 
it had struck the ground close to me, it 
would doubtless have sent me "west." 

The game had now been turned about. 
We were the pursuers. Most of the fighting 
was between the enemy's rear guard and our 
contact patrols — until we reached the Aisne. 
The Huns crossed the river, but they blew 
up the bridges behind them. The last of the 
retreating troops were scarcely across before 
the detonators were set off. 

We were held up for a while on the Aisne 
while our engineers constructed pontoon 
bridges. The Germans had the range, and 
they almost wiped out our entire battalion 
of engineers before our troops could cross. 

I saw a working raft swing out into the 
river with about twelve men on it. A single 

88 



THE BLACK WATCH 

burst of shrapnel exploded in their midst and 
there wasn't a man left standing. One of 
them crawled to the stern and began pushing 
the raft toward shore with a pole but he was 
so weak that the current kept swinging him 
down a stream. A sniper got him. 

The raft was drifting away. Nobody ex- 
pected to see the men on it again, but, in the 
face of shrapnel and a nasty fire from snipers, 
three men, stark naked, jumped into the 
stream and struck out for the raft. The 
water around them was whipped by bullets, 
but our boys located the snipers and got the 
range and quieted them. The first man 
reached the raft. His hands were over the 
edge. He had just pushed his head and 
shoulders over the side when a rifle snapped 
and he slipped back into the water; then I 
saw the German who had fired at him topple 
out of a tree. A dozen shots must have 
struck him. The two other swimmers were 
alongside the raft now and climbed upon it. 
I could see that one was bleeding at the 
shoulder. Our men pulled the wounded man 
upon the raft, and brought it to shore. Their 
heroism saved the lives of five men who other- 

89 



THE BLACK WATCH 

wise would have drifted away and probably 
died. 

Soon our own artillery began to locate the 
German guns, whose fire diminished. Then 
our infantry began to cross the river at a 
dozen points. On the opposite bank was a 
village by the name of Bourg. Up and down 
hills we worked our way, forcing the enemy 
off the ridges. The details of the operations 
would not be of interest. We wanted to close 
with the bayonets, but the boches weren't 
ready for that, and they dropped back foot 
by foot, keeping up a hot fire. 

On this side of the river were numerous 
stone quarries, and in these we found tons and 
tons of ammunition for the heavy German 
guns. The type and manufacturers' marks 
showed that some of it was made as far back 
as the Franco-Prussian war. It had been 
lying in caches in the quarries for years, the 
Prussians having bought titles to some of the 
land through spies who posed as Frenchmen. 
They had been making use of this ammuni- 
tion against us. It shows how long ago the 
war was planned and by whom. In some of 
the quarries we uncovered re-enforced con- 

9a 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Crete fortification and emplacements for can- 
non. 

Our commander, Colonel Grant Duff, was 
in the thickest of the fighting. I saw him 
distributing bandoliers of ammunition along 
the firing line. His men tried to make him go 
to the rear, but we were having a tough time 
to keep fire superiority, and we needed every 
man in the line. Suddenly Colonel Duff 
staggered and slouched forward on his hands 
and knees. The bandoliers he was carrying, 
scattered. Several men rushed to him but 
he got to his feet himself and ordered them 
back to their posts. An ugly red stain was 
spreading over his tartan riding breeches and 
leggings, but he staggered onward with the 
ammunition. He had not gone a dozen steps 
when both his arms flew up into the air 
and he fell backward. This time he did not 
move. He had been shot straight through 
the heart, and another commander of the 
Black Watch had gone to join the long line 
of heroes who had so often led this regiment 
to victory. 

Many of our company commanders were 
picked off by the enemy because of their dis- 

91 



THE BLACK WATCH 

tinctive dress, their celluloid map cases af- 
fording excellent targets. 

My memory of this fight is somewhat frag- 
mentary. There are phases which are all but 
blanks to me. Others stand out with startling 
clarity. 

We were advancing in skirmishing order 
through a wood. A pal of my old athletic 

days, Ned McD , fighting a few yards from 

me in our scattered line, fell with a bullet 
through both thighs. I made him as comfort- 
able as I could in a nook about twenty paces 
back from where our men, lying on their 
stomachs, were keeping up a steady rifle fire 
through the underbrush. I had hardly re- 
turned to the line when the whistle of our 
platoon commander sounded shrilly, and we 
were ordered to retire to the farther edge of 
the plateau, where our men could have better 
protection from the enemy fire. I hurriedly 

placed McD under the edge of a bank, 

where, at least, he would not be trampled on 
by men or horses. 

"Don't attempt to leave the spot, Ned," 
I said. "I'll get back to you to-night if there's 
an opportunity." The chance did come, but 



THE BLACK WATCH 

when I reached the spot he had disappeared. 
Our subsequent meeting — the story of which 
I shall tellT— is one of my few agreeable recol- 
lections in the train of the tragedy of our 
campaign. 

But to go back to the fight. 

Soon after leaving the spot where McD 

lay, I joined in a charge on a line of hidden 
trenches. We were upon them, and it was 
steel and teeth again. I saw an officer run 
in under a bayonet thrust, and jab his thumbs 
into a German's eyes. The boche rolled upon 
the ground, screaming. How long we fought, 
I do not know. When it was over we began 
to pick up the wounded. It was night. The 
Prussian guns were still hammering at us, 
and some of the shells set fire to a number 
of haystacks in the field where we had crossed 
the open. It was Hell. In the red glare of 
the fire the stretcher bearers hurried here 
and there with the dying, while others who 
had been placed behind the hay-stacks for 
shelter burned to death when the stalks 
caught fire. The few who could, crawled 
away from the fire. Those of us who were 
able to do so, pulled others to safety, and 

93 



THE BLACK WATCH 

many a man had his hands and face badly 
burned, rescuing a helpless comrade. 

The next morning we went at them again. 
In the first rush, I, felt a sudden slap against 
my thigh. It did not feel like anything more 
than a blow from an open palm. I thought 
nothing more of it until after the fight, when 
some one told me I was bleeding. A bullet 
had struck the flesh of my thigh. The slight 
wound was dressed at the regimental station, 
and I was ready for duty again. 

That night I was assigned to outpost duty 
between the lines. The German artillery had 
so covered the roads and the bridge, that for 
two days the supply wagons had been un- 
able to come up. I was almost starved. My 
stomach ached incessantly from sheer hunger 
and I was weak from the bleeding of my 
wound. It seems terrible, looking back at 
it, but, during the night, while my partner 
watched, I crawled out and searched the 
dead for rations. I found none. Fifty paces 
from our post lay a dead artillery horse. We 
had to eat — or drop. What could we do.^^ 
Wriggling on my belly like a snake, I drew 
myself toward the smelling carcass, cut off 

94 



THE BLACK WATCH 

enough with my jackknife to do the section, 
brought it back, and we ate it. 

There followed days of lying in the trenches. 
Every time one of us showed a head above 
the surface of the earth a single shot would 
ring out, and more than once it accomplished 
its mission. Two or three times I almost 
caught it myself. At last I made up my mind 
that the sniper must be in a sugar factory 
building which showed clearly above a ridge 
on the right front of our position. Jock 
Hunter and I volunteered to go there and 
investigate. Working our way under cover of 
a wooded patch, we reached the factory 
yard where we encountered an old French- 
man who seemed to be the owner of the place. 
What do you want.^^" he demanded. 
Have you seen a sniper anywhere about 
here?" I asked. 

"No," he answered in a surly manner, 
"and you get out of here." 

"We'll get out," I retorted, "and you'll 
get with us." 

I searched the factory building from cellar 
to roof but wasn't able to discover anything 
incriminating. I didn't know much about 

95 






THE BLACK WATCH 

sugar factories, but there was a lot of ma- 
chinery in the place that didn't look to me as 
if it had anything to do with sugar. 

Back to our lines we went, with the sup- 
posed Frenchman making a lot of noise, but 
walking about two inches in front of the 
points of our bayonets. When he was searched 
we found notes to the value of fifteen thou- 
sand francs sewed in his clothes, but most 
important of all, there were papers upon his 
person which showed that he was a German 
spy left there by the Prussians in 1871. He 
held title to many acres of land, including 
some of the quarries where shells had been 
hidden. 

I told the company officer of the suspicious- 
looking machinery in the factory. He sent 
us back there with a subaltern of the engi- 
neers. The three of us approached the build- 
ing by different routes. Suddenly, from a 
narrow window in the tower of the structure, 
a rifle cracked, and I saw the subaltern duck 
behind a bush. Hunter and I each began to 
run toward the factory. Zip! A bullet 
whistled past my ear, and a few seconds later 
Hunter was fired at. 

96 



THE BLACK WATCH 

We all reached the place together. As the 
firing had been from the tower, we hurried 
to the upper storeys, but the subaltern saw at 
a glance that the machinery I had noticed 
was a wireless plant. Afterward we found 
that the numerous '* lightning rods" on the 
factory were in reality wireless antennae. We 
went to the top of the tower without finding 
a single soul, but in a little room in the 
cupola, there were a few bread crumbs scat- 
tered over the floor. A corner of the linoleum 
covering on the floor of this room looked a 
little uneven. The subaltern posted each of 
us in a different corner with orders to fire 
three rapid rounds from our rifles into dif- 
ferent points of the floor. He himself was to 
discharge his revolver in a like manner. At 
his signal we all opened fire, splintering the 
floor in several places. Then we heard a 
groan. 

"Come up here!" called the subaltern, in 
English. There was no answer. He repeated 
the command in German. Very slowly the 
linoleum in the corner of the room where 
it was uneven began to hump up. We all 
stood ready to fire. A trap door was lifting. 

97 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Presently the corner of the floor covering was 
pushed back completely and a man's face 
appeared. It was a very white, drawn face, 
and, as the shoulders rose above the floor 
level, we saw that the man had been struck 
by at least one of our bullets. His left arm 
hung limp by his side. We patched him up. 

The oflScer told Hunter and myself to cut 
all wires, which, after some search, we found 
had been laid at the bottom of the walls and 
cunningly concealed by the grass. Then we 
took our prisoner back to our lines. An hour 
later our howitzers had demolished the fac- 
tory. Up to this time, the boche artillery 
had been planting one shell after another on 
our positions, no matter how often we shifted. 
After the factory was destroyed we made one 
more move and no shells found us. 

We dug ourselves into the ground, and 
the almost continual rain made mud holes 
out of the trenches. Our force was not large 
enough in those days to allow of the elaborate 
system of supports and reserves that exists 
to-day. The men in the firing trenches had 
to stay there, and there was no going back 
into bomb-proofs for a rest. At night we lay 

98 



THE BLACK WATCH 

down all in our muddy clothes with a water- 
proof sheet beneath us and our greatcoats 
around us. The sheet didn't do much good, 
because after lying in it for a while, it got 
pressed down into the mud and slime, which 
came all over the edges. Every one had a cold, 
and many of the men suffered from rheuma- 
tism, but no complaints were heard. It is 
only when things are going smoothly and 
"fags" are lacking that the British Tommy 
kicks. 

Owing to the lack of supplies, the issues of 
cigarettes were so few and far between that 
the dry tea that was sent up as part rations 
was used to make "fags." Tommies would 
roll the tea in paper in the form of cigarettes 
and smoke it. As much as five francs would 
be oflFered for one "Woodbine" when our 
supplies were exhausted. A "fag" was a 
most precious thing, and guarded jealously. 
A fellow would get into a corner, take a couple 
of puffs, "nip" it, then hide it away in a safe 
place on his person for fear of thieves in the 
night! In one instance, I watched a scene 
that would have brought forth laughter as 
well as pity from a civilian. One Tommy 

99 



THE BLACK WATCH 

was observed in a corner finishing a half-inch 
butt, holding it by a pin which was stuck 
through it. Three others immediately 
pounced upon him and his treasure.^ After 
a short argument they formed a truce in the 
following manner: each man in rotation was 
to take one puff. A cockney with a Walrus 
moustache was last on the line, and with 
great sadness on his face and a sob in his voice 
said: *'Bli' me! w'ere the 'ell do I come in.f^" 
Out in front of our trenches the mud was 
full of the bodies of the dead — ^mostly Ger- 
mans, but a few of our men. At night, we 
went out to bury them, but the enemy fired 
on us, so we had to leave them there. The 
wind was blowing our way, and they knew 
the odours of the battlefield were as hard 
for us to bear as was their artillery or rifle 
fire. This scheme they had learned from the 
Russians, who practised it during their war 
with Japan. 



100 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

OUR trenches were pretty efiPective 
against rifle fire, but we had not yet 
learned to make them deep and narrow 
enough in proportion to protect us against 
shrapnel, which is not of much use against 
troops in the present-day trench. Our de- 
fence lay in leaning up close against the front 
wall of the trench, which caused most of the 
force of the shrapnel burst to go over our 
heads. One morning I was hugging the wall 
of the trench as close as I could stick, when 
a ''coal box" burst near by. It tore down a 
long section of trench wall, killing a number 
of men. I saw the explosion and the next 
thing I knew I heard some one saying: 

"Ah'U bet ye' Joe's snuffed it noo', puir 
lad." 

I stuck my head up out of what seemed 
to me to be a ton or two of rock and dirt and 
yelled: "No; not this time!" 

You should have seen their faces. Some 

101 



THE BLACK WATCH 

looked frightened and others reheved. In a 
second they began to laugh. Two or three 
of them helped^me to my feet, and then the 
laughing became more boisterous. 

"It isn't so d funny as you think," I 

said, getting a little peeved. 

They turned me round and one of them 
held up the front part of my kilt in such a 
way that I could see the whole rear of the 
garment had been torn off. Certain portions 
of my anatomy were as guiltless of clothes 
as when I was born. A splinter of the shell, 
about fourteen pounds in weight, had given 
me a close crop. Then I had to laugh too, 
though I was somewhat battered and sore, 
but that night it wasn't so funny. I was 
almost frozen while on sentry go, and the next 
day it was just as bad. 

As I have already told you, the transports 
were scarce, and we had little to eat, and ab- 
solutely nothing in the way of new equip- 
ment. It was all we could do to get ammu- 
nition.^ After shivering all day, I determined 
to have some clothes. Right in front of our 
position, about twenty-five yards from the 
trench, lay a dead member of H company 

102 



THE BLACK WATCH 

whose name was Jock Drummond. Under 
cover of darkness, I sneaked out, and was 
almost beside the body, when a flare rocket 
went up. All of No Man's Land was lit up 
like day and I had to lie among the dead as 
if I had been one of them. It almost turned 
my stomach, but I did not dare to move. 
The Germans were searching the muddy 
ground and the least motion on my part 
would have brought a dozen or so bullets my 
way. 

Presently the light from the flare bombs 
died away, and I wriggled closer to what had 
been Drummond. I got my arm under the 
shoulders of the body, and started to crawl 
back to the trench. Twice a rocket went up, 
and I had to lie still for minutes with my 
ghastly companion. The second time, a Ger- 
man must have seen us move. Three bullets 
spattered against the ground a few inches 
from me, and one struck Drummond. I 
suppose I was twelve or fifteen minutes 
crawling back to the trench. It seemed 
fifteen years — an interminable time. I was 
not yet thoroughly hardened to war, and it 
went against my whole nature; but — I had 

103 



THE BLACK WATCH 

to have clothes. We took the kilt from 
Drummond's body, and I wore it for weeks. 
Drummond, at least, got a decent burial, 
and a letter we found in his pocket we mailed 
to his mother, to whom it was addressed; so 
perhaps the deed done with a selfish|purpose 
bore some good fruits after all. I "may add 
that the stench of the dead lingered with me 
for a good many days. 

The night after I got Drummond's kilt, 
the Germans attacked us. We had erected 
barbed-wire entanglements in front of our 
position. We had empty jam and bully-beef 
tins, also empty shell cases from field guns, 
strung on the wire in such a way that the 
least touch would attract attention. 

In this manner we were notified that the 
Germans were in the act of striking at us. 
Now they were coming — ^hundreds of them. 
There was a thin edge of humanity first, like 
the sheeting of water which precedes a 
breaker up a gently sloping beach. Behind 
it came units — more closely bunched, and, 
still farther back, was a mass of soldiery 
almost like a battalion on parade. 

It was murder to fire into that wall of 

104 



THE BLACK WATCH 

misty grey — ^but the men who made it were 
bent on murdering us. I was firing as fast 
as I could. On my right was a lad of nine- 
teen, who was one of the 3rd battahon miHtia 
of the Black Watch— a detachment sent to 
replace our losses. 

"Pray God they may not pass the wire," 
he haK sobbed with every breath. He was 
afraid, but he would not run. Every, man 
is afraid in his first battle. The recruit's 
face was drawn and white — ^his lips a thin, 
pressed line — but he fired calmly. He did 
not mind the bullets, but he had not yet the 
"spirit of the bayonet," and he dreaded that 
they should pass the wire. 

The first of the thin line was at the en- 
tanglement. Most of them dropped before 
they touched a wire, but others cut a single 
strand before a bullet found its berth. They 
died; but they had succeeded in their mis- 
sion. A thread of life cut to sever a strand 
of wire! 

The wave had risen and was breaking over 
the entanglement. They were beginning to 
get through. Here and there a man lumbered 
up the gentle slope toward our trenches only 

105 



THE BLACK WATCH 

to fall before he reached them. The mass of 
them was worming through the wire now. 

A shrill whistle blew. From our trenches 
came a sound like the beating of a hundred 
pneumatic hammers. It was the music of 
Hell. The machine guns and artillery were 
making it, and they were spitting out death 
in streams to the accompaniment of their 
devilish music. God was answering the 
prayer of the little lad. The Germans were 
dropping at the wire; they would not pass. 

The wee death engines were playing just 
a foot or so above the bottom of the wire, 
and they were literally cutting the legs from 
under the mass of grey-clad men. The back 
wash from the wave which broke against the 
wire was thinner than the wash that had pre- 
ceded it. 

"Thank God!" gasped the boy; "I did not 
have to use my bayonet." 

"It's guid steel wasted," growled a ginger- 
whiskered old-timer on my left, as he wiped 
the dampness from the blade with his sleeve 
and dropped the bayonet back into its scab- 
bard. 

[To-day such an attack on the British lines 

106 



THE BLACK WATCH 

would invariably be followed by a counter 
attack to show the Germans that the initia- 
tive lies — always must lie — ^with the Allies; 
but, in those days, we had not the men. Our 
lines were often so thin that, had they been 
pierced at a single point, we would have been 
crumpled up like paper.] 

After this fight, we were relieved by an 
East Yorkshire regiment and told that we 
would go to billets about three miles in the 
rear, but we had scarcely left the trenches 
when we received orders to get to billets and 
hold ourselves in readiness to occupy a new 
position in the line. The Black Watch at 
that time was again brought up to strength 
by the addition of a re-enforcement of five 
hundred men. 

A party of us was sent to guard a bridge 
that our engineers were repairing, it having 
been blown up the previous day by big shell 
fire. I had just got off duty and was sitting 
before the log fire in the block-house with a 
few other fellows, when in popped a little 
Algerian, as black as the ace of spades. On 
recognizing that we were Scots, he held out 
his hand and said: 

107 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"My name's MacPherson; what's yours?" 

He made himself right at home, and we 
shared our bully beef and biscuit with him. 
We had just been warming it. Our black 
"Scotsman" insisted on staying w^ith us, and 
so we adopted him as a sort of mascot. 

Shortly after we took up our new position 
in the line, a German sniper began to annoy 
us, and continued to do so almost ceaselessly. 
Every time anything showed so much as an 
inch above the crest, it drew fire, and a num- 
ber of our men were shot passing traverses. 
There was a wood near our position, and we 
were pretty sure the fire was coming from 
there although we could not locate it. The 
Algerian was a crack shot, and wanted to 
prove it, so he went to our lieutenant and said : 
Me get sniper, if you like." 
Go ahead," said the lieutenant, half 
jokingly. 

It seemed ridiculous to think of "Mac- 
Pherson" — with his tiny body and his face 
of a black angel "getting" anybody. 

The little Algerian disappeared. At the 
end of three hours, after we had all given 
him up as lost or strayed, he returned, 

108 






THE BLACK WATCH 

clutching a small untidy package rolled in a 
French newspaper. 

"Weil, then, he didn't eat you up, did he?" 
some one asked. 

The httle Algerian understood English 
poorly, but he generally got the gist of 
things. This time he evidently thought he 
had been asked whether he had eaten up the 
sniper. 

"Ugh!" he exclaimed; "me no eat sniper, 
but git him. Look here." 

Very gingerly he unrolled his sheet of news- 
paper and, as evidence that he had landed 
his man, exposed to view a human ear. He 
wanted to present the ear to the lieutenant, 
but the oflficer declined the honour.* 

There was much night-patrol work to do 
on the Aisne. Often we ran into German 
reconnaissance patrols. One night I was 
scouting with another man. Five or six hun- 
dred yards from our lines, we came upon a 
boche sentry. He was a big, heavy fellow, 
and I remember thinking that he looked as 
if the hard army life had not yet worked 

*.Since my discharge and residence here in America, I have heard 
several other cases of this kind, but the one narrated above is the 
only one I actually came in contact with. The Author. 

109 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the surfeit of beer out of his system. He was 
leaning on the parapet, and appeared to be 
asleep. We wanted to get beyond, as he was 
on the German advance listening post, but, 
as a reconnaissance patrol must conceal from 
the enemy all evidence of its proximity, we 
dared not shoot him. So we crawled to one 
side of him, and my partner, who was slightly 
ahead, gave him a thud on the side of the 
neck, which only, as we thought, made him 
sleep the more soundly. He dropped into the 
trench. The next moment a head bobbed 
up and the dose was repeated with the result 
that the boche (whom we had mistaken for 
the first man) slid back again. We looked 
over to see whether the second blow had done 
its work; there were two forms instead of one. 
My partner took a helmet as a souvenir. 
He kept it for one day and then abandoned 
it as inconvenient to carry. He found that 
a souvenir the size of a boche's helmet could 
not be put between the leaves of his St. John's 
Gospel. 

Being about the only Black Watch scout 
left of those that had first landed in France, 

110 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I had been almost constantly on duty during 
the fighting at the Aisne. You can imagine 
then how happy I was when we were re- 
lieved from the trenches and billeted a short 
distance in the rear in hay lofts, cottages, 
and stables. 

On our way to billets we were looking for- 
ward to a "cushy" time, a good rest, a decent 
meal, and a wash, and hoping that the next 
section of trench we took over would be much 
quieter. It did not seem, however, as if I 
had had much more than the proverbial 
"forty winks" when we were sent back to 
support the Cameron Highlanders. 

It was the Camerons who had just relieved 
us and their headquarters were in a quarry 
where ours had been. A few "coal boxes" 
had landed in the quarry, and reduced it to 
a mass of debris. Only one officer and bugler 
had survived. It was here that Sergeant- 
Major Burt, of my native town, was killed. 
He was reputed to have the "best word of 
command" in the British army. We reached 
the scene in time to help the Scots Guards 
dig out some of them. It was a gruesome 
job. Some of the men had been pinned under 

111 



THE BLACK WATCH 

heavy rocks for hours without losing con- 
sciousness, n^ 

There was, in particular, one instance of 
an officer [I cannot recall his name] whose 
legs were crushed and pinned down. His 
head had been cut by a shell splinter. When 
we tried to dig him out, he ordered us to at- 
tend first to a private, a few feet away, whose 
ribs had been smashed in and who was bleed- 
ing from the nose and mouth. 

In all, about thirty officers and men lost 
their lives here. 

We were called from this scene of carnage 
to defend a trench line against the Prussian 
Guards who were threatening to break 
through. The machine-gun and shrapnel 
fire was terrific, and for a time we were glad 
to squeeze ourselves close against the parapet. 
Then suddenly everything seemed uncomfort- 
ably quiet. Wounded were screaming and 
groaning all about us; men, who had not 
been struck, were muttering to themselves— 
driven half mad by the bombardment; but, 
the instant the roar of the guns and shell 
explosions ceased, all seemed still. The 
Prussians were undoubtedly preparing to 

112 



THE BLACK WATCH 

charge us, but they must have been slow in 
getting started. We got hurried orders to 
get ready to go over the top and surprise them, 
joul thought of but one thing as I ran for- 
ward; that was— "Blighty." On going to 
billets it had been my intention to write to 
'the folks at home the next day after getting 
a rest, but our stay had been so short that to 
do so had been impossible. And now my 
thought was: "Perhaps I sha'n't return." 

The Prussians seemed surprised by our 
quick attack, and the offensive was wrested 
from them. We became the assaulters. How 
I got through the entanglement I cannot tell. 
All I know is that I left part of my kilt 
dangling amid the wires. However, before 
we reached their trench line, the Prussians 
had scrambled over their parapet to meet us. 
In the general mix-up I found myself locked 
in the arms of a bear-like Prussian Guards- 
man who evidently had lost his rifle and bay- 
onet. His knee was at my knee — his chest 
pressed against my chest. Our faces touched. 

I slid my hands up along the barrel of my 
rifle until they were almost under the hilt of 
the bayonet. Very slowly I shoved the butt 

113 



THE BLACK WATCH 

back of me and to the side. Lower and 
lower I dropped it. The keen blade was 
between us. All the Hun seemed to know 
about wrestling was to hug. He dared not 
let go. Had he known a few tricks of the 
game, I should not be writing this to-day. 

Instinctively I felt that the point of my 
bayonet was in line with his throat. With 
every ounce of strength in my body, I 
wrenched my shoulders upward and straight- 
ened my knees. The action broke his hold, 
and my bayonet was driven into his greasy 
throat. His arms relaxed; I was drenched 
with blood, but it was not my own. I stag- 
gered away from him, wrenching my rifle free 
as he fell. 

The thrust I had used has come to be known 
as the ''jab point"; they are teaching it to 
the American army to-day. It developed 
naturally from just such situations as I have 
described. 

It was an awful melee. There were men 
swinging rifles overhead; others, kicking, 
punching, and tearing at their adversaries; 
while others again, wrestling, had fallen to 
the ground, struggling one to master the 

114 



THE BLACK WATCH 

other. One Highlander, who had been struck 
by a bullet just before reaching the enemy 
parapet, grasped his rifle, and crawled as 
best he could the intervening distance, wait- 
ing his chance to get his man. At last it 
came. His bayonet found its mark, before 
the bulky Hun could ward off the unexpected 
stroke from the wounded lad. In a moment 
they were both lying prone on the earth. 
The Highlander, I am sure, died content — 
content that he had got his quota at least. 

It was the wildest confusion, but its im- 
pressions were absolutely photographic. I 
can see it all, again, this moment. 

The Prussians were finally obliged to retire 
to their reserve trenches. We took their 
firing trench, but had to vacate it because it 
was subject to an enfilading fire from the 
enemy. As we retreated in company squads, 
we kept up a steady fire. 

While making for our trenches, I shouted 
to one of the fellows on my left to keep down 
as we were drawing the enemy's fire. The 
sentence was hardly completed, when some- 
thing hot struck me on the left jaw. It 
seemed as if I had been hit with a sledge 

115 



THE BLACK WATCH 

hammer. I spun round, stumbled, and fell 
to the ground. I realized that it was a bullet 
and tried to swear at the boehes, but all I 
could do was to spit and cough, for the blood 
was almost choking me. The bullet, entering 
my cheek and shattering some of my teeth 
in passing, made its exit by way of my mouth. 
My warning, however, had saved the life of 
the lad I had shouted to. He flopped to the 
ground just in time to avoid a sweep of ma- 
chine-gun fire, and managed to crawl to our 
trench, which was a very short distance off. 

I was sent to the regimental dressing sta- 
tion. There were scores there more seriously 
wounded than I, and they were, of course, 
attended. to first. By the time it was my 
turn, my face was so completely smeared 
with congealed blood that the orderly couldn't 
locate the wound. He wiped my face with 
a bunch of grass and applied a dressing, I 
was relieved to hear that it was a clean wound. 

In the dressing station, suffering as I was, 
I noticed two men forcibly controlling a 
wounded comrade. After a moment I recog- 
nized him as the little recruit who had prayed 
that the Germans might not pass the wire 

116 



THE BLACK WATCH 

and come to bayonet fighting with us. His 
features were so changed that he seemed 
aged a dozen years and — beheve it or not, 
as you will— his hair, which had been sleek 
and black, was entirely white. He had been 
Oiily slightly wounded but the heavy bom- 
bardment had driven him entirely mad. He 
was continually crying for his mother. I 
afterward learned that he and his mother, 
who was blind, had lived together and had 
been warmly devoted to each other, but at 
the outbreak of the war, his mother felt it 
her duty to send him to fight. The boy re- 
covered his mental faculties a month or two 
after being sent home. 



117 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

AFTER the first dressing of my wound, 
I was sent to our transport station, a 
short distance behind the Hues, being 
told that in a few days I would be fit for 
duty again. There was a farm here. By 
the time I reached the farm house the pain 
of my wound was terrific. It was like a 
toothache all over my head and down into 
my neck and shoulders. Nevertheless, I 
threw myself onto a pile of straw in the barn 
and, after tossing about a while, managed to 
fall asleep. 

When I awoke it was daylight again, the 
entire night having passed. Leaning over me 
was a little French girl — she must have been 
about eight years old — with a pitcher of milk, 
which she held out toward me. In spite of 
the condition of my mouth, I managed to 
swallow the milk. I was almost starved and 
very weak. I tried to persuade the little 
girl to accept a franc for the milk, but she 

118 



THE BLACK WATCH 

shook her head, and skipped off. Following 
her out of the barn, I met her mother to 
whom, also, I offered payment; she, too, re- 
fused it. 

We could hear the rumbling of big guns; 
shells were exploding not far away; then came 
the noise of transport wagons approaching 
the farm. I turned back toward the barn and 
had not gone more than ten paces when there 
was a crash overhead. Splinters and shrapnel 
spattered into the farm yard. I ducked and 
hastened my pace. Then there was a thud 
behind me, as if a bag of potatoes had been 
dropped from a lorry. Almost simultaneously 
came a scream from the little girl. 

I turned just in time to see the mother of 
the child fall, roll down out of the doorway 
in which the two were standing, and lie 
ominously still. The little girl stood gazing 
in terror at the fallen woman. Her little 
hands were raised shoulder high before her 
and she shrieked — hysterically and helplessly. 
As I hastened toward them the child seemed 
to realize the awful thing that had happened 
and threw herself upon her mother's body, 
pressing her face against the dying woman's. 

119 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I felt the tears trickling down my cheek and 
smarting in my wound as I heard the child's 
heartbroken exclamations — terms of endear-/ 
ment they seemed, and pitifully eloquent 
enough, though the tongue in which they were 
spoken was unknown to me. 

A lad of ten, barefoot and in overalls, came 
running from the house. He knelt and stared 
into his mother's face, then he turned a dumb, 
questioning glance at me. I could not meet 
his eyes. As I got my arms under the shoul- 
ders of the fallen woman and started to drag 
her body into the house, I could hear the 
little fellow sobbing softly but he didn't 
speak. Hoping that it still might be of use, 
he helped with all his little strength to move 
his mother's body. Inside the house, we 
pushed the tumbled hair back from her face, 
A shrapnel bullet had entered her forehead. 
It was useless to ask if human aid could serve 
her. Death had been almost instantaneous. 
Then I saw a sight that spoke a volume on 
the cruelty of war and the heroism of the 
sturdy French blood could I but tell it. 

The little lad gathered his sister in his pro- 
tecting arms and sat — speaking, manfully, 

120 



THE BLACK WATCH 

words of comfort to her — beside the dead 
body of their mother, shells meanwhile burst- 
ing all about the home which had been their 
childhood haven of love and safety, and brick 
and plaster falling about them from its shat- 
tered roof. The children were in serious 
danger, but they steadfastly refused to leave 
their mother. I did not know enough French 
to reason with them, and it was not until 
some French muleteers sought shelter behind 
the building that I was able, through them, 
to persuade the boy and girl to go farther 
to the rear, with them. 

After this experience, like one in a dream, 
I made my way back to the trenches, heed- 
less of the shells whizzing overhead. The 
sight I had seen haunted me. 

Upon reaching my trench, I was brought 
back to my senses by some of my "muckin'- 
in" pals, who threw all sorts of questions at 
me in a jesting fashion, such as: 

"Hello, Renter, been tae Blighty an' back? 
Ye're a better sprinter than Ah thocht"; 
"Hoo's aw wi' th' fokes at hame.^ Did ye 
remember the fags?" 

It was some time before I was suflSciently 

121 



THE BLACK WATCH 

myself again to be able to answer them in 
the proper strain. My head looked like a 
cotton-and-bandage demonstration, and I was 
a sorry looking sight altogether. I lived for 
the next few days on bully beef biscuits, soft- 
ened, and oxo cubes dissolved in water. 

In a few days we were relieved by French 
troops, and we force-marched north to stem 
the German thrust at Calais. 

After some stiff marching, we entrained 
"somewhere." Our "camions" were coal 
trucks, which had been only partially un- 
loaded. Some of my more hygienic mates 
who were under the impression that they did 
not have as much grime-caked mud sticking 
to them as the rest, suggested that our truck 
be cleaned out, but the general eagerness for 
a corner "doss" put this suggestion out of 
consideration at once. There was a scram- 
bling match, and when our allotment got en- 
tirely in, the quartermaster was soundly 
"cussed." It seemed as if the whole regiment 
had been detailed to this car. Even in these 
circumstances, the whimsical philosophy of 
the private soldier asserted itself. A little 
chap, jammed in a corner, said he wanted a 

122 



THE BLACK WATCH 

place by the side door, so that he could '*see 
the scenery"! 

We travelled all night, and on the following 
morning drew up at a junction where a body 
of recruits joined us. They regarded us with 
staring eyes, and I suppose we did look like 
a lot of cave men, being unshaven, long- 
haired, grimy, and black as sweeps with the 
coal dust. We did not mind this half so 
much as the recruits. At the junction, we 
got a sandwich and a canteen of coffee which 
had a most exquisite flavour of rum. This 
was so pronounced that some summoned their 
nerve sufl&ciently to go back for a "double 
attack," but were met with "Napoo." 

Conditions have changed now, so that 
Tommy is able to keep himself shaved and 
personally neat, even in the mud of the 
trenches. It helps keep up our morale and 
shatter that of the boches. There is a dis- 
tinct psychological effect on the enemy when 
clean-shaven, tidily-dressed men come up 
out of the earth and fall upon them. 

Very soon we commenced our journey 
again. How long we were on the train I 
cannot recall, but finally we reached a large 

US 



THE BLACK WATCH 

town where we got off. On our arrival we 
could hear the incessant rumbling of guns, 
and knew we were going to have another 
hot time of it. My face was better, but my 
beard! I had not had a shave since before 
Mons! While on the retreat, most of us, in 
order to lighten our loads, had thrown away 
the little items of our equipment that we did 
not urgently need. We kept only our great- 
coats and such articles as we required for 
warmth. 

We force-marched until early morning, 
when we halted for a rest, as the feet of many 
of our men were skinned and in bad shape. 
For myself, I was walking on my uppers, as 
the soles and heels of my shoes were com- 
pletely worn out. 

We resumed the march. We understood 
that we were in the vicinity of Ypres. We 
force-marched for all we were worth, and late 
in the afternoon we came to a village. Here 
we were billeted on the side nearest us. After 
getting rations, we needed no coaxing to sleep. 

It was still dark when we got orders to fall 
in and march at top speed. The village was 
being shelled. 

124 



THE BLACK WATCH 

This seemed to have been a spot for concen- 
trating for we met with other regiments there 
— one of them the King's Royal Rifles. 
Beyond the far side of the village at a cer- 
tain distance one could see trees scattered 
here and there, but farther on the country 
was flat. It was in this direction we marched. 

Orders were whispered along the line that 
we were to maintain strict silence and no 
"fags" were to be lighted, as we were near the 
enemy, and were attempting to move without 
his knowledge. Our officers gave us the en- 
couraging news that we were about to be up 
against some hard fighting — ^harder than we 
had so far experienced. Our commander, 
Major J. T. C. Murray, expressed the hope 
that we would keep the name of the "Black 
Watch" where our predecessors had placed 
it — in the foremost rank. And so we ad- 
vanced in darkness, with our minds on serious 
things. 

We were in two lines of skirmishing order, 
one pace apart. Our object was to reach the 
flat ground beyond the trees and dig ourselves 
in before dawn. We did this. The digging 
was an easy matter as the earth was marshy 

125 



THE BLACK WATCH 

and our entrenching tools proved fit enough 
for the task. Shells were flying overhead 
continually, making an awful humming noise, 
and some of them passed so low that the air 
disturbances blew caps from off the heads of 
our men. 

There was not a murmur or a word of com- 
plaint from our wearied and worn ranks. 
We had almost completed our shallow trenches 
when the boche opened fire at us with his 
field guns. It was hardly dawn. We kept 
on digging, crouching in all positions to keep 
under cover from the bombardment. 

I suppose that every one under shell fire, 
at one time or another, in some manner, 
prays. I know that I often have done so, 
although not so ostentatiously as some of the 
men. I have seen them, when the shells were 
rocking the earth and splinters were whistling 
past our ears, drop to their knees and swear 
to their Maker that, if they were spared, 
when they returned home they would go to 
church regularly and be kinder to their wives 
and children. 

Some of our men ceased digging after 
reaching what they thought a safe depth, 

126 



THE BLACK WATCH 

and crouched against the parapet for safety. 
Others of us started making what are known 
to-day as dug-outs. Jock Hunter and I 
made one to hold both of us. We dug away 
under the parapet so that we could crawl in 
with only our feet sticking out. This not 
only sheltered us from the unceasing shrapnel, 
but from the rain also. Some of the boys lying 
in the trenches had been killed and some 
wounded from the shrapnel bursting over- 
head, so the officers gave orders that we were 
all to make these dug-outs. 

A man from each company had been detailed 
for look-out duty, at which we all took turn 
of an hour each. It was noon before we 
heard any response from our artillery,' but 
then it checked the German fire considerably. 

The rain came down heavily, flooding us 
out of our dug-outs, and we were obliged to 
stand in the trench like a lot of half -drowned 
rats, our greatcoats on and our waterproof 
sheets over them. At first we were standing 
on earth, but before long the muck had reached 
over our ankles. 

There was at least one virtue in the rain — 
it softened our bully-beef biscuits, which we 

127 



THE BLACK WATCH 

ate standing in the trenches, wet to the skin 
and with water dripping from our greatcoats 
and kilts. 

\^Toward night the rain ceased. We had ex- 
pected to be attacked at any minute that day, 
but for some reason or another we escaped it. 
We got a rum issue. Then volunteers were 
asked for., to go and fetch some hot "gun- 
fire." (It was hot when the ration party 
got it, but quite cold when it reached us.) 

That night I was given orders to go on 
night reconnaissance. While I was away on 
this duty, the engineers came up and our 
fellows dug in again in advance of the old 
trenches. The engineers then constructed a 
barbed-wire entanglement in front of our 
position. 

Wet and cold, and covered with mud, I 
went off on patrol duty, and many a shell 
hole I stumbled into to make me wetter. 
The enemy's position was about seven hun- 
dred yards from ours. 

When moving between the lines, I noticed 
the outline of a big man. I don't know why 
I didn't fall down upon seeing him. My in- 
stinct told me to go ahead to make sure who 

128 



THE BLACK WATCH 

it was. We were making straight for each 
other; as we met we ahnost brushed sleeves; 
then, with no more than a glance at each 
other, we passed on; but you may be sure 
that I had my jackknife in the proper hand. 
I could not say even now whether or not he 
was a German. 

I returned to our lines and, after reporting, 
helped to finish the trenches. I heard the 
following morning that one of our patrols 
had captured a German. I wondered if he 
might be the big fellow I had passed in the 
dark. 

We received the order to "stand to" at 
dawn. Other troops had dug themselves in 
some distance behind us during the night. 
We got another rum issue just before "stand 
to"; it was highly appreciated. 

At dawn, the Germans attacked in mass for- 
mation, but our rifle and artillery fire made 
big gaps as they advanced. They did not 
reach our trenches. They retired, leaving 
piles of dead. The nearest of their dead were 
not more than one hundred yards from us. 

This time we had very few casualties in 
our battalion — largely on account of our 

129 



THE BLACK WATCH 

having dug in ahead of our old position, the 
range of which the enemy had. Their fire 
constantly over-reached us. 

After this attack was over, we heard the 
buzzing of airplanes, and although we had 
been instructed not to look up — the white of 
faces being very conspicuous from above — 
we ventured to do so, and saw a British plane 
smash headlong into a boche machine. Both 
went end over end to earth, and the pilots 
undoubtedly were killed. The Englishman, 
in giving his life, had saved perhaps hundreds 
of us in the trenches. 

In the afternoon, after a heavy bombard- 
ment, which tore up some of our barbed 
wire, the enemy made another charge. This 
time they came over in wave formation. 
The order was passed along to "fix bayonets," 
and, as soon as the Germans reached the 
barbed wire, to spring out and meet them. 
This we did. 

We fought off line after line. The Black 
Watch suffered many casualties here, but not 
so many as the Germans. This crowd had 
less love for the bayonet than their brothers 
at the Aisne. Soon we were chasing them 

130 



THE BLACK WATCH 

out beyond the barbed wire. We took many 
prisoners. If it had not been for the officer's 
whistle to retire, I think we would have driven 
them to Berlin, the way we felt that day. 
However, back we had to come. 

The enemy's artillery fire began to pound 
on us as we were making for our trenches, 
and some of our fellows were bowled over as 
the result of it. As many of the wounded 
as we could bring, we brought back with us. 

One fellow was lying about fifty yards 
away from the trench. Two of his mates 
volunteered to go out for him, but in the 
attempt they were wounded and forced to 
come back without him. Two others then 
went out; these managed to bring him in — 
but he was dead. He was a young lad — one 
of the latest to join our battalion. His 
equipment was practically new. I was given 
his shoes; they were much too big for me, 
but nevertheless I was grateful for them. 

That night I helped to carry back more of 
the wounded, and, with the rest, assisted the 
engineers to fix up the barbed wire. This, 
coupled with the fighting of the day, well 
nigh exhausted me, but I didn't get the rest 

131 



THE BLACK WATCH 

which I so much desired and expected, as I 
was detailed as one of our company ration 
party, comprising six men and a non-com- 
missioned officer. 

Owing to occasional shell fire, we were 
obliged to crawl close to the ground while 
on our way to the supply station. When we 
were coming back, the boches used flare lights 
which made us visible to them. I had a box 
of biscuits on my head. It made a fine 
target, and when I reached our trenches I 
found that bullets had pierced it. 



132 



CHAPTER NINE 

FOR a day or two after this we had com- 
parative quiet. Only bursts of shell 
fire threatened us, but these were so 
common as to be hardly noticed. The stench 
of the dead was terrible — worse than we had 
yet experienced. Men turned sick and were 
positively useless for hours, many being sent 
to the base hospital for treatment for their 
violent nausea. Others developed rheumatic 
fever from sleeping in the mud and water. 

Shortly after this, during the night time, 
we were relieved by an English regiment, 
composed of men who had not yet seen the 
worst of the fighting. They were fresh and 
inclined to be jovial. They asked rather 
carelessly about conditions as we had found 
them; we told them plainly what they had to 
expect. That seemed to sober them some- 
what but not greatly. So we extended to 
them the conventional wish for the "best o' 
luck" and left them to find out for themselves 

133 



THE BLACK WATCH 

that they were in a campaign which could 
only be called one of present desperation and 
ultimate sacrifice. 

Upon passing through an unidentified vil- 
lage, we found it deserted and nothing but 
a heap of ruins. The surrounding country 
as far as the eye could see resembled the lid 
of a pepper box, being full of shell holes. 
Many an oath came from the fellows, in the 
dark, as they stumbled into the shell holes 
full of water. 

At last we reached our billets. Here, at 
least, there were signs of life. Troops and 
transports were passing us continuously, but 
we knew nevertheless that we were near the 
firing line, for we could hear the bursting of 
shells and see the flashes. The country was 
a little more hilly here, as far as we could 
see in the semi-darkness. We were more 
than glad to get into a stable or barn; it 
meant a chance to get dry and to stretch our 
overworked limbs. 

After a little while we lined up in the farm 
yard and got some hot bully-beef stew in 
our canteens, a two-pound loaf among eight 
of us, some jam (needless to say "apple and 

134 



THE BLACK WATCH 

plum"), and a ''daud" of cheese; also a quar- 
ter-pound tin of Golden Flake cigarettes be- 
tween two, and, as a sort of dessert, we got 
the mail from Blighty! Happy? why the 
word doesn't express it! We were simply 
elevated a million feet in the air — tired as we 
were. 

We discussed and played the different foot- 
ball league games over and over again as they 
were described in the newspapers we had 
just received. We imagined ourselves once 
more among the spectators at a cup-tie match 
between the Celtic and Dundee at Ibrox Park. 

For a time war was entirely forgotten; but 
only for a time! With a sudden *'jerk" we 
would be brought back to our senses and our 
present whereabouts by the voice of the 
orderly corporal asking whether Private Mc- 
Neil, or Lance-Corporal Watson, or perhaps 
Corporal McGregor had been seen down the 
line wounded; or was he dead.^ It was war, 
all right, and not football we were playing at! 

Jock Hunter and I were still "muckin'-in" 
pals, sharing our rations and troubles alike. 
Very soon the party broke, each man making 
for his allotted place to rest. I can recall 

135 



THE BLACK WATCH 

so vividly the feeling that came over me as 
I lay down on that straw. It was identical 
with that which I had felt after coming back 
from a charge that had been a touch struggle ! 
I fell asleep sighing and wondering how soon 
it would be when my letters would find no 
claimant for them! 

We passed the next day writing letters, 
scraping the mud oflf our clothes, and at rifle 
inspection. More men joined us. One of 
the new arrivals lent me his razor, and I 
performed, what was, to me, the awful task 
of shaving. It made me feel like a new man, 
and they said I looked it. We were told that 
we would no doubt have a few days' rest, 
and then move to Dixmude or some town 
with a name like that. We were instructed 
not to leave our billets, and told that when- 
ever we heard a boche plane overhead we 
should make for cover, or stand perfectly 
still with our backs to the walls of the farm 
houses, without stirring, until the machine 
was out of sight. That day we noticed a few 
of Fritz's sausage balloons in the direction 
of the firing line. 

That night our oflnicer. Lieutenant McRae, 

136 



THE BLACK WATCH 

came round fully equipped; one look at him 
was enough; we knew there was to be no 
more "dossing" in the soft straw for us. 

"Fall in at the double, men! We have to 
take over a new section of trenches not far 
from here." Such was the greeting he gave 
us. We got into "harness" all right, but 
how we grouched and "cussed"! 

After lining up on the muddy road with the 
remainder of the battalion, the usual order 
was issued: "All fags out; no talking!" 

We started ofiF, wading through mud; with 
every now and then an occasional halt and 
more grouching in the ranks. With three 
hours of this to our credit, we found ourselves 
zigzagging round little hillocks along narrow 
muddy cart roads. We passed a concealed 
battery of small howitzers. Some of the 
English chaps noticed that we were "jocks" 
(the name the English give the kilties) and 
began cheering us up with: 

"Down't wish y' enny 'arm — but ye'r gowin' 
ta 'ave an 'ell of an 'ot tyme, you Jocks!" 

We had ploughed our way through the mud 
only a few hundred yards beyond the battery 
when my nostrils sensed that there must 

137 



THE BLACK WATCH 

have been some killing going on in the vicin- 
ity. A little farther on we came to an open 
section and turned to the right* just before 
making a small incline. I could see a few 
wrecked transport wagons and dead horses. 
We remained behind a hillock and were told 
that we were near the enemy. We were about 
to enter trenches which lay quite close to 
the German lines our officer told us, adding 
that we could have reached this point from 
our billets in half an hour, but that it was 
necessary for us to make the exceedingly 
long detour. Most of us knew that this was 
the direction in which we had seen the sau- 
sage balloon, which brought back the mem- 
ory of the heavy firing. 

We got into the natural ditches, which 
served us as trenches. We did not relieve 
any troops at this place, and there were no 
signs of any having been here, but on both 
flanks at some distance off, there were regi- 
ments entrenched. The situation was not 
one in the least to be desired. We were prac- 
tically on an open space. 

We were just in the act of starting work 
with our entrenching tools when all at once 

138 



THE BLACK WATCH 

— "s-c-ch-eew!" — and the sky was alight 
with a flare rocket. There was no necessity 
for orders to hug the earth; we just simply 
flopped on our faces. Then it seemed as if 
the whole of the German artillery opened 
fire. We did not dare even to look up for 
quite some time. However, it seemed that 
we were not the party at which the firing 
had been concentrated; one by one our boys 
ventured to peep over in the direction of the 
flashes. The whizzing and groaning of the 
shells overhead was terrific, but they passed 
high. During the flashes, I looked over the 
open space in front of us. We were occupying 
a sort of high ground with slight mounds. 
To our right flank the country seemed more 
regular. 

So far none of us had been struck, and we 
prepared to dig in properly. We had hardly 
levelled out our parapet, when an infernal 
noise of machine-gun and rifle fire let loose 
on our right flank some hundreds of yards off. 
Some of our look-out sentries seemingly got 
a bit nervous and commenced firing too — 
at nothing. Then the whole line took it up. 
This racket kept up fully twenty minutes— 

139 



THE BLACK WATCH 

and we had not seen as much as a shadow. 
Shortly after this, Major Murray, our acting 
Commanding Officer, came along the line and 
gave orders to strengthen our position as the 
Germans were expected to make a big charge 
along the whole front in the morning. I was 
then told to select a man from my company 
(D) and go out between the lines to secure 
all the information possible with regard to the 
distance of the German lines from ours. 
Particularly, I was instructed to locate the 
places where they could crawl up in our di- 
rection without being seen. 

There was no use asking for a volunteer 
for no sane person longed for this risky job, 
so I approached a strapping young fellow by 
the name of Lawson and accosted him with: 

"Lawson, coming with me.^" 

"I'm with you," was his reply. Taking up 
his rifle, which had been leaning against the 
parapet, he added, as an afterthought: "But, 
whaur are ye bound fur ?" 

"We're bound for the German lines, to get 
information," I answered. I added that he 
had better hand over his keepsakes to a chum 
— the keepsakes that he'd want his mother 

140 



THE BLACK WATCH 

or his lass to receive — as we might not come 
back again. 

Dark as it was, I yet could see his chin 
fall and his face pale. With a very serious 
look and without another word he emptied 
his pockets. Very thoughtfully he took two 
packets of "Woodbine" cigarettes out of his 
haversack and handed them over to a chap 
sitting on the fire step with: "Here, Donald, 
ye ken what tae dae wi' these if Ah'm not 
back afore mor-r-nin'." 

We crawled out for about fifty yards, then, 
as there Were little mounds in front of and 
behind us, we got up to our feet. 

We proceeded very cautiously, round the 
many little mounds, stumbling through shal- 
low ditches, and crawling over the higher spots. 

"Y' seem tae hae th' heng o' thees," said 
Lawson, as he stumbled and crawled behind 
me. "Ah'U dae ma' best tae follow your lead. 
It's a braw new beesness tae me." [He was 
referring to my method of keeping to natural 
cover.] 

"I've been trained in scouting," I replied. 
"Just do as I do, and with anything like luck 
we'll come out all whole." 

141 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Memory took me back to the days I had 
spent in scouting practice in India, under 
Major Bruce, the famous scoutmaster of the 
2nd BattaHon, Fifth Gurkhas — ^forty days, 
once, from Dunga-Gully up to the borders of 
Cashmere and back. Little did I think, in 
those days, that I'd ever find myself sneaking 
my way through the flats of Flanders, hiding 
from enemies in the air as well as on the earth. 

Now and again we heard a rifle shot — at 
times quite a distance away; then again, quite 
close. Often we'd hear the ''swish" until at 
last, the bullet found its mark, with a "click." 

We must have been out for over two 
hours, before we neared the German position. 
At last we could hear an occasional mumbling 
of hushed voices, and make out the dim out- 
line of wire entanglements. The German 
position seemed to be on a little plateau. 

While we were lying on our bellies, my 
partner could turn his face and look at me, 
but neither of us dared utter a word. 

Fifteen minutes seemed like a century. I 
was more used to it than my partner, but 
even at that I must admit that I was as 
nervous as a man that is about to have a 

142 



THE BLACK WATCH 

death sentence pronounced on him. It is the 
feeHng that possesses every man that patrols 
"No Man's Land." 

I motioned to Lawson, and we crawled 
away Hke worms that had been overlooked 
by a hungry crow. We reached our trenches 
quickly after getting into the broken ground; 
it was not until we had actually entered them 
that he opened his mouth. Then, approach- 
ing his friend, Donald, he demanded his fags. 
In a whisper, he triumphantly announced 
that we had been near enough to hear the 
Germans talking in their trenches. 

I went to our officer and reported. 

It was in the morning after ''stand down," 
when our rum issue had been passed, that 
we learned what the racket had been the 
previous night. The Germans had tried a 
night attack on the King's Royal Rifles. 

The morning was cold and misty. It was 
easy to see that we were about six hundred 
yards from Fritz's trenches, and that his, 
like ours, were on slightly higher ground than 
that which lay between the lines. There was 
a farm house here and there, behind us. 

I could see a line of trenches on either 

143 



THE BLACK WATCH 

flank but the one on the right was most 
easily perceptible. There was an open space 
at the end of our battalion line on the right 
flank, and our left flank was bent back 
slightly. We also learned that we had moved 
into this position without the Huns knowing 
that we were near. I could see the boche 
balloons some distance behind the enemy lines. 



144 



CHAPTER TEN 

IT was still morning when it was reported 
by one of our look-out men, who had 
been scanning the boche lines with a pair 
of field glasses (only his head showing above 
the top of the trench made for observation 
purposes), that the Germans were walking 
about the tops of their trenches in a careless 
fashion. 

Naturally some of the last batch of men to 
join us wanted to have a pop at thenj, but 
our officers said no— to let sleeping dogs lie. 
Most of us peeped over and saw them. Doing 
so, my eye caught a large number that had 
concentrated behind a mound to our right 
front — directly in advance of the English 
troops that held a section of trenches on our 
right flank. I should judge that there were 
about a hundred of the enemy,— some holding 
up white handkerchiefs in the lead, and a 
mass of them a little distance behind. My 
heart was in my throat, and I wondered 

145 



THE BLACK WATCH 

whether the K. R. R.'s were aware of their 
presence. I had heard stories of Germans 
with flags of truce. But so, evidently, had 
the commanders of the Rifles, for soon there 
was enacted before me a tragedy which I shaU 
never forget. 

About one hundred of the Rifles went for- 
ward to bring in this batch of Germans who 
were advancing apparently to surrender. They 
advanced very slowly and cautiously. Just 
when they were within short range, the Ger- 
mans in front, bearing white flags but no 
arms, threw themselves onto the ground, 
machine guns began firing over their heads 
and those with rifles began firing point blank 
into the ranks of the British. 

The K. R. R.'s were ready for them. 
They opened up like a fan, their machine guns 
and rifles began crashing and the Huns were 
thrown into confusion. They dropped like 
clay pipes in a shooting gallery. The crews 
of the boche machine guns were picked off 
by the riflemen, and the K. R. R.'s machine 
guns kept on pouring lead into the mass. It 
was dreadful! I saw piles of Huns, dead and 
wounded, the latter waving like a shock of 

146 



THE BLACK WATCH 

hay with some one underneath it trying to 
get out. Their officers, in the rear, shot down 
man after man who tried to run. They drove 
them forward hke bullocks to the slaughter, 
for many of the Germans were too confused 
to shoot and scores had thrown away their 
rifles. Suddenly the K. R. R.'s machine guns 
became silent. For a few seconds the rifle fire 
became faster and more furious. Then it 
stopped. Steel bayonets glinted as the K. R. 
R.'s charged. There was no mercy shown. 
There were no prisoners taken. Of the five 
thousand Germans, who had gone out to do 
murder in cold blood, I do not believe five 
hundred got away. They were practically 
annihilated. The bayonets finished the work 
that the machine guns and rifles had started. 
What would you have.^ Men would not spare 
a nest of venomous snakes. It was a just 
retribution, but my stomach turned at it. 
None who had not seen it could even picture 
the sight. 

For the next few days we had it "cushy," 
except for boche shrapnel showering our 
trenches at intervals, daily. 

The cold, however, had increased enough 

147 



THE BLACK WATCH 

to cause much discomfort. It was always 
cold, and especially so when there was a 
fierce wind and the rain drenched us. It was 
the common thing for the men to be up to their 
knees in water and slush. 

We had been almost two weeks in this po- 
sition when we noticed queer happenings in 
a farm house a few hundred yards behind our 
lines. The watchfulness of our officers re- 
vealed the significance of some apparently 
trifling things. 

In the daytime, the shade on a window 
facing the German line would frequently be 
moved. Sometimes it would be drawn the 
full length of the window; then, if the Ger- 
man artillery had been pounding away at 
our right flank, immediately it would switch 
in the direction of our batteries. Sometimes 
the shade would be only half way down. 
More than once I saw a woman at this same 
window; and sometimes she would be leading 
a cow about some distance behind our lines. 
At night a light would be seen now and again 
moving past the window. 

Agents of the British Intelligence Depart- 
ment, summoned to the front by our officers, 

148 



THE BLACK WATCH 

discovered that a complete system of signalling 
was carried on between the people in the 
isolated farm house and the Germans. Three 
men and a woman were marched out of the 
house and taken away. After that, our con- 
cealed batteries, in new positions, hadn't a 
single casualty for days, whereas, previously, 
they had been almost constantly under heavy 
and accurate fire! 

During the few days following the ''white 
flag" afifair, when the boches' shelling was 
not quite so steady, we passed our time play- 
ing cards. Occasionally one of the fellows, 
who had split a piece of wood at one end, 
would insert a card in it and hold it over the 
parapet. Nine times out of ten a German 
sniper — there were many of them in the 
vicinity — would put a hole in it with a 
bullet. 

These snipers caused us a great deal of 
trouble, particularly when we wanted water, 
which was procurable only at a little brook 
on our left flank. To get it was such a risky 
proposition that there were no "detail parties" 
formed in the daytime, and any one who 
went in quest of it, did so at his own risk. 

149 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Many a one who did so venture paid for his 
daring with his Hfe. The snipers were always 
busy, even at night, and seemed to have a 
line on this spot. 

A few of the fellows, rather than risk going 
to the brook, filled their water bottles from 
a duck pond — full of a dirty, green, slimy 
liquid — situated behind our line. The result 
was sickness to most of those that drank it 
and nearly all had to be sent to hospital. 

Late one afternoon our section (thirteen 
men) was all together. Four of us were play- 
ing cards in an effort at distraction, for we 
were nearly insane from the lack of drinking 
water. For two days we had had to eat our 
bully beef and biscuits dry. We made it up 
that we should play a game of *'phat" (a 
common card game among the Tommies), and 
that the one with the lowest count would have 
to take the section's water bottles and fill 
them at the brook. This — to use a Yankee 
expression — was a "cinch" for me, or at 
least I thought so at the beginning of the 
game; and so did the others, who, because 
of my record as a winner at the game were 
of the opinion that I couldn't lose. 

150 



THE BLACK WATCH 

However, toward the middle of the game I 
became nervous. So far I had taken only 
two tricks. Things got worse as the playing 
progressed, and it wound up with me the loser. 

Without a word, they collected the thirteen 
bottles and hung them on my left shoulder 
like decorations on a Christmas tree. 

Silently I made off. I reached the brook 
without mishap. 

I had almost half of the bottles filled when 
— zip — a bullet struck very close to me. I 
tumbled into the water, pulling the bottles 
with me, and, in a lying position, continued 
filling them. This was not what one might 
call a comfortable or a convenient position in 
which to fill water bottles. They filled very 
slowly indeed. 

As soon as they were full, I placed them on 
my shoulders; rose, dripping, from the water; 
and made for our line. I had not gone more 
than twenty paces when a bullet struck close 
at my heels. I jumped and looked upward, 
hoping to fool the sniper into thinking he 
was firing too high, causing him to set his 
sight for a shorter range. The next shot fell 
shorter still. I looked up again and hastened 

151 



THE BLACK WATCH 

my pace. A third shot visibly struck a rock 
and enabled the sniper to correct his range. 

Almost immediately after came another 
bullet, which I knew had got something about 
me. Instantly I flopped down and lay still. 
There was more scattered firing from the 
German lines and I was trembling with 
"nerves." 

At last, I could not stand it longer. I 
was afraid the sniper would fire at me again 
— ^not an uncommon practice with the boche 
sniper, who, when he drops his man, usually 
sends over a make-sure shot. So I sprang to 
my feet and rushed for the trenches, arriving 
there in safety. 

When I got into our section I found my 
pals sitting around and looking very gloomy. 
Upon seeing me they greeted me with: 

"Ye've been a h o' a time awa'. We 

were juist beginnin' tae think we'd lost our 
watter bottles." 

When I unloaded my cargo I found that two 
of the bottles had been pierced by a bullet. 
Each man of the section made a thirsty effort 
to lay hands on his own bottle. I was left 
with the two damaged ones besides my own. 

152 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Then they told me how a shell had exploded 
and killed two of the card players — the owners 
of the damaged bottles. The water that was 
left in these was distributed among the others. 

Patrol work, mostly at night, continued to 
be my chief duty. On one occasion I lost my 
bearings, and presently found myself almost 
upon one of the boche listening posts. 

"So long as I have come thus far, I will 
edge in and take a chance," I said to myself. 

I knew it would be almost as dangerous 
to go back as to go forward, for at any mo- 
ment a man might crane his neck above the 
parapet, see me moving, and fire. Then there 
was the momentary chance that a star bomb 
would light the heavens and all the earth 
between the lines, in which case a thousand 
rifles would begin sputtering at everything 
that moved or seemed to be alive. Each 
second I expected it to come. My nerves 
felt as if they were drawn taut — taut as the 
barbed wire which the boches string so tight 
that if it is cut in the night it will twang 
like the string of a violin. But the quick 
shot in the night did not come, and I wriggled 
forward through the wire. 

153 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I was almost at the edge of the parapet 
of the Hstening post. I heard voices whis- 
pering in German. Some one was scrambhng 
up over the parapet. How was I to get 
away? I could not, so I lay on my belly 
and buried my face in the earth — the earth 
which should be wholesome and life giving, 
but which stunk with unspeakable things. 

Three heads appeared above the parapet. 
Shoulders followed, and cautiously a patrol 
of three men wriggled out from the listening 
post and then separated. One of them, in 
getting out, slipped, and I could hear him 
''strafing" under his breath, as he vanished 
into the night. Another head thrust itself 
above the parapet. I was sure a pair of eyes 
were staring at me, though I could not see 
them in the dark. 

Once more I lay as if dead. "What's the 
difference.^" I thought; in a few moments, 
probably, I would be, and then I should not 
mind the sight or the odour of what was 
around me. 

The man in the listening post reached 
down for something at his feet. I was sure 
that he was going to hurl a grenade in my 

154 



THE BLACK WATCH 

direction. Something came hurtling through 
the air. I sunk my teeth into my Kp to keep 
from crying out, and wondered how the ex- 
plosion would feel— whether there was any 
anguish in being torn to bits instantaneously. 
The dark object plumped onto the ground 
at my side and bumped against my ribs. 
How long it took for it to explode! Then 
I knew it was only a stone. I continued to 
lie as still as one dead. 

Another stone struck my shoulders. The 
sentry did not wish to rouse the whole line 
and start a wastage of ammunition by causing 
a thousand rounds or so to be fired uselessly 
into the night, as would probably be the case 
should he discharge his rifle or throw a gre- 
nade. He crawled up over the parapet and 
wriggled toward me. I tried to prepare my- 
self to spring up when the time came, but I 
dared not so much as move a foot to get a 
better grip on the ground. He himself did 
not dare to rise. He knew that his silhouette 
would draw fire from the trenches. It would 
be like a battle between snakes, both of us 
on the ground there, fighting each other on 
our bellies. 

155 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I saw the dull gleam of his bayonet. Still 
I did not dare to let him know I was alive. 
He was only inches from me. I could hear 
his deep breathing. He was not sure whether 
or not I was a corpse, but he was going to 
take no chances. He lunged with the steel. 
I managed to jam the butt of my rifle against 
his head. It disconcerted him, but there was 
not enough force behind the blow, struck 
from my awkward position, to stun him. 
He rolled upon me. I felt for his throat. 
He was a big, greasy boche and my fingers 
could scarcely encircle his neck, but I squeezed 
and squeezed, for my life depended upon my 
eight fingers and my two thumbs. If I did 
not throttle him, he would kill me. 

He was getting weaker. I felt his muscles 
relax. I could see his eyes. I do not think 
I shall ever forget them. They bulged from 
their sockets and it seemed that they would 
pop from his head and strike me in the face. 
It sickened me, but it was his life or mine. 
He was clawing frantically but weakly. Now 
he was still. It was brutal, but war is brutal. 

After emptying his pockets I crawled to 
the edge of the dugout listening post. Inside 

156 



THE BLACK WATCH 

were three men, two lying in the bottom of 
the hole, the third sitting with his back 
against the wall of the excavation. The 
boche I had just left probably had disobeyed 
orders in crawling out without awakening 
one of them. The error cost him his life and 
saved mine. 

For a second as I peered over the edge of 
the hole I had thoughts of a daring deed, but 
it was better to get back to our lines with 
the contents of the first man's pockets, which 
no doubt afiforded information for our staff, 
and so I returned — battered and torn and 
exhausted. 

After this, in recognition of my work as a 
scout, I was offered the rank of a non-com- 
missioned officer, but I did not wish it. They 
were picking off the non-coms too fast to 
suit me, and there was danger enough in the 
work I was doing. 



157 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 

AFTER spending a few more days in 
this last, very warm position, we moved 
to billets a little way off behind our left 
flank, and we certainly needed the rest. 
There was no indication that these billets 
had been used before by our troops. Jock 
Hunter and I were assigned to a barn, and 
you may be sure I was delighted at the pros- 
pect of literally "hitting the hay" as the 
Americans say. 

As there were chickens running around, 
even over every part of the thatched house, 
Jock and I went in search of eggs, for oh! 
how we longed for a change of diet! For 
weeks it had been bully beef and biscuits, 
and then biscuits and bully beef. In our 
search, we climbed up the ladder to the attic, 
which we found to be very spacious, with 
heaps of straw on the floor here and there. 
The walls of the structure, I should judge, 
were about four feet thick, and there was a 

158 



THE BLACK WATCH 

space that wide where the parapet of the 
wall and thatching came near together. 

On reaching the attic we could hear the 
" voices of our fellows in the farm yard below. 
The noise came through the opening between 
the parapet and thatching which was sup- 
ported by beams. The aperture must have 
been about a foot in height. Approaching 
this — ^with the intention of playing a trick 
on the boys by throwing a piece of stone from 
the top of the wall — I noticed, dangling over 
the edge, a black leather strap. Carelessly 
I gave it a sharp tug, when out came a 
"Colt," the handle of which I instantly 
caught. I scarcely had it in my hands when 
a man's head popped up and I found myself 
facing a German soldier. He started to 
reach to his side but I had him covered. I 
do not know whether he or I was the more 
greatly surprised. 

"Hands up, ye swine!" I shouted, holding 
him cowed with his own revolver, although 
I was entirely ignorant of its mechanism, 
and did not even know how to release the 
safety catch. 

He slid out of the recess under the thatch 

159 



THE BLACK WATCH 

which he had been occupying and stood on the 
floor. With his hands up, he kept muttering: 

"Mercy! Kamerad! Kamerad!'' 

Jock seemed stunned at this sudden and' 
unthought of ''find." 

I asked him to tie the boche's hands, which 
he did with his rifle pull-through, and we 
marched him down to the oflBcers' quarters. 
The oflficers were just preparing to eat, and 
were astounded at the sudden appearance of 
the boche in the doorway, as we made him 
walk in first. We left the prisoner and his 
Colt with the officers. Then we returned to 
search the loft. 

In the deep recess over the wall we found 
a French rifle, a British ^rifle, several days' 
rations, ammunition, and a warm blanket — 
which Jock and I snuggled under that night. 
It was a sniper's post and afforded an excel- 
lent view of part of our lines, especially the 
spot at the brook where so many of our boys 
"went West" in the act of getting water, 
and where I had had a narrow escape. 

The next morning, after reveille, a corporal 
and three men who had done guard over the 
sniper got orders to take him to a given 

160 



THE BLACK WATCH 

place, which was about three miles behind 
our lines. Also they were ordered to report 
back within "fifteen minutes from starting 
time." 

We were promised a few days' rest here, 
but the following day, toward nightfall, we 
were shelled out of the place by the boches' 
heavy artillery, the "coal boxes" landing all 
around the place. We had scarcely time to 
get out of it. Luckily enough, no one 
"clicked." We then moved to trenches near 
La Bassee. Here also was a great number of 
troops concentrating. 

We had heard that our native troops from 
India were to hold part of the lines near us. 
Also we had been told of the great work the 
Canadians had done recently around this sec- 
tion, and we were looked upon to do the 
same. It was now December, and the sleet 
and rain poured on us for the first few days 
without cessation. 

In the trenches here, in some parts we 
were knee deep in slush, and^this had a very 
dispiriting effect. It, together with the con- 
tinuous downpour of rain and sleet and 
Fritz's shelling — which never ceased — reduced 

161 



THE BLACK WATCH 

US to a state of positive misery. We fared 
badly enough, but we wondered how the 
native troops (who were now on our left 
flank), used to a warm climate, could stand 
it. 

•We got more tinned rations and in greater 
variety, here, than I can remember ever hav- 
ing before. There was "Maconochie" — a 
soup with directions to boil fifteen minutes 
before opening the tin; — which, of course, 
was merely satirical. The "Maconochie" 
was never warmed until it had reached our 
stomachs. However, it proved a very ac- 
ceptable change from our *' bully beef." That 
is, it did when it came. It didn't come often. 
We also had tins of muchin (butter) which 
Tommy says is a very good quality. 

Another tinned product, but not a ration, 
reached us here. It was the famous jam-tin 
hand grenade which came into use at about 
that time. 

Preparations were now in progress for an 
attack of greater magnitude than any we had 
yet taken part in. With a number of other 
scouts, I was sent out to examine the terrain 
over which our men would advance. The 

162 



THE BLACK WATCH 

party was discovered by German snipers, 
and we ran back to our lines as fast as we 
could go. A piece of a ricochet shot struck 
my left ankle, but only slightly injured it 
on account of my heavy spats and leather 
shoes, so that by having a tight bandage 
applied at once I was able to take part in 
the attack. 

Hitherto most of our engagements had 
been more or less surprise affairs— that is, 
we would get word of the enemy just about 
in time to be ready for him when the actual 
charge came. This time it was different. 
We had been told what time we would go 
* over at them. We had to sit around and 
wait. Some of the men were carefully clean- 
ing their rifles. Others ran their thumbs 
along the edges of their bayonets. Many were 
writing letters. But almost every face that 
I could see was pale. The greater part of 
them were nervously puflSng away at fags, 
very often unlit. 

Here and there a man would glance at his 
watch — furtively, as if afraid it would be 
thought that he was hoping the time had not 
yet come. Others were swearing softly and 

163 



THE BLACK WATCH 

grumbling because they could not charge at 
once. 

Occasionally a man would joke or tell a 
funny story. Those who heard him either 
looked as if they hadn't heard or laughed rather 
thinly. It is one thing to go at them with 
steel and rifle, but quite another to sit around 
and wait for the short blast of the whistle 
which sends you out to kill or to be killed. 

Our artillery was pouring shells and shrap- 
nel upon the Huns and their guns were reply- 
ing. The combat wagons with the ammuni- 
tion and the wagons with the rations had to 
reach us through a curtain of fire. One hun- 
dred extra cartridges were distributed to 
every man, also extra tins of "bully." I 
was on my way to regimental headquarters 
with a message, when a shell squarely struck 
a transport wagon. It was obliterated. Men 
were torn into shreds. I saw the whole fore- 
quarters of a horse blown high into a tree 
and caught there in a crotch. The stretcher 
bearers picked up some of the men. Some 
they could not even find. I was soon back 
again in the firing trench. We had gouged 
out little footholds to help us over the top. 

164 



THE BLACK WATCH 

At last it came — the little shrill metallic 
blast we had been waiting for. It could be 
heard distinctly above the roar of the artillery. 
The blood surged back into the faces of the 
pale men. We were fighting now. It was dif- 
ferent from the waiting and thinking — the 
thinking of what we may be leaving behind 
us for always. 

I was the first man out of the trench — 
not that I was brave, but because I had al- 
ready learned that it was the last man up 
and the last man down who usually are shot. 
I sped ahead of all the platoon; for in that 
lay safety. 

It is a fact that men in trenches will fire 
at the mass in rear rather than stop to aim 
at a single runner out ahead. Each man 
seems to feel that he is sure to hit someone 
if he fires into the mass and that another will 
pick off the leader. 



We were back again in our own trenches. 
What had happened in the charge I did not 
know. I can honestly state that my mind is a 
blank for the period of time which elapsed after 
I ran the first fifty yards toward the boches. 

165 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I was sitting on the fire-step. We had 
taken their trenches and had been recalled 
after our troops from the rear had gone for- 
ward to prepare the captured position against 
the counter attack which would surely come. 

My chum, Jock Hunter, was sitting near me. 

"Blow ' Coffee up,' " he said to me, laughing. 
I thought he had lost his senses. I stared at 
him blankly. 

"Blow 'Coffee up,'" he repeated, pointing 
to my side. 

I glanced down at my hip. There was a 
battered bugle hanging from a cord over my 
shoulder. I was more bewildered than ever, 
but I unslung the instrument and we exam- 
ined it. It was a bugle of the Potsdam 
Guards and there were thirteen bullet holes 
in it. 

Jock would not believe that I did not 
know how I came by the thing, and you 
may find it difficult, too, to accept my state- 
ment, but it is a fact. I do not know how I 
got it. The period of the charge is a slice 
of my life which is completely gone from 
my memory. I do not know what sights I 
saw nor what sounds I heard. 

166 



THE BLACK WATCH 

On our first Sunday in this position, the 
German artillery became quiet about ten 
o'clock, and, about half an hour later, we 
heard strains of music from beyond the 
slightly risen ground on Fritz's lines. They 
were holding a Sunday service. But as soon 
as it was over, we were greeted with a couple 
of hundred shells from their artillery, so we 
came to the conclusion that the sermon must 
have been rotten. 

The weather conditions here were so bad 
that a number of our fellows were sent to 
the base hospital with frost-bite, or what is 
known now as "trench feet." They suffered 
excruciating pain. I saw one fellow who had 
to have his shoe cut off; the foot swelled up 
instantly to very great size and was almost en- 
tirely black. 

As a supposed protection against the con- 
ditions which had caused so many cases of 
"trench feet" some bureau expert over in 
England had a supply of rubber boots for- 
warded to us. I have seen many things 
which were useless supplied to soldiers but 
never anything to equal these boots. They 
were so loose and clumsy that they materially 

167 



THE BLACK WATCH 

interfered with the action of walking and 
they were just of a height to be entirely sub- 
merged in the trench mud, leaving the wearer 
with an individual and separate bucketful 
of the stuff to lift with each foot. I heard 
many a pair wished on the Kaiser's feet. 
Big ladles with long handles also were distrib- 
uted among us to be used in scraping out the 
water from the trenches, and each of us took 
our turn in acting as "chef," that is, ladling 
the water out behind the trench wall. Occa- 
sionally where a fellow, slow in throwing it 
over, would hold the ladle up a few seconds 
too long — ^ping! — a bullet would go through 
it. If we wanted to sit down the only thing 
we could do was to place our packs and 
equipment on the fire-step and sit on them. 

Our position was somewhat lower than 
that of the Germans, as they occupied a 
sort of ridge. For days and nights at a time 
we did nothing but wait, with an occasional 
raiding party or artillery encounter, with 
now and again a heavy bombardment, to 
break the tedium. 

We were sitting around in the mud one 
day when, all of a sudden, a heavy rifle and 

168 



THE BLACK WATCH 

machine-gun fire swept along our trench. 
Then we heard a dull muffled roar as if some 
tremendous weight, padded heavily with bales 
of cotton, had fallen a great height. That 
is the only way I can describe the sound. 
Instantly, I wondered what had happened. 
I do not suppose it was a second later before 
I knew, but it seemed as if it were a full 
minute. The earth seemed to rock. There 
was a swashing, hissing noise. Mud, water, 
and stones poured down all around us. Mud- 
dy water cascaded into our trench. Clamber- 
ing out of it and through a storm of bullets, 
we made for our reserve trench. Many of 
our men fell in the act of fleeing for shelter. 
This was the result of the Germans having 
dammed up their own trench which was filled 
with water, and dug tunnels in our direction 
as far as they possibly could without our 
being aware of it. They opened the dams 
just after commencing the firing. Their in- 
tention was to catch with the fire those that 
escaped drowning, and thus annihilate us, 
so that they could break through our lines at 
this point. No doubt it was a clever ruse, but 
— it did not work. 

16d 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

OUR regiment was now shifted from the 
position where the Germans had tried 
to drown us out to another section 
near a place which we afterwards christened 
"The Glory Hole." The German lines and 
ours were very near to each other here. On 
the night of our arrival we could hear the 
Huns talking, and after we had settled our- 
selves in our trenches, we could hear them 
now and again whistling "Highland Laddie." 
It was evident that they knew who we were, 
as that is the tune to which we "march past." 
I was now initiated into the use of the 
hand grenades. The kind we got were later 
termed the "hair-brush." Now and again, 
the Germans would take a mad turn and lob 
a few of their grenades over at us, and in turn, 
we returned the compliment. This form of 
fighting was then in its infancy, and we near- 
ly all had our own ways of doing it. I used 
to tie two or three of the bomb handles to- 

170 



THE BLACK WATCH 

gether with a rope; get hold of the end of it, 
which was knotted; and, in the same way as 
an American athlete throws the hammer, I 
would swing the bombs over my head and let 
go in the direction of Fritz. In this way I 
could accomplish a few yards more than any- 
one who threw in the ordinary way. Sand- 
bags were piled about three feet high on top 
of the parapet with loopholes through which 
we fired our rifles. When I wanted to throw 
the grenades in the fashion I have just de- 
scribed, I would go to the more level ground 
at the back, throw them, and jump back into 
the trench where I always had ample room, as 
the others, with varying criticisms of my enter- 
prise, gladly cleared the way before I started 
operations. They fully expected me at some 
time to make a mistake and land the gre- 
nades among them instead of in the boches' 
trench. 

As we did not have one common system 
of throwing these grenades,, a few of the non- 
coms and men were selected to practise — a 
little way behind the lines — the proper meth- 
od. Our Acting-Colonel, J. T. C. Murray, 
and three men were killed when a lance-cor- 

171 



THE BLACK WATCH 

poral, in swinging a grenade, accidentally 
struck the ground with it, causing it to ex- 
plode. 

At times we were treated to some lyddite 
shells by the boches (at least we believed them 
to be lyddite, though I have since learned 
that they were gas shells). I was never 
caught in the fumes myself, but I saw many 
men who had been. This particular gas 
simply snuffed the life out of the men without 
their even knowing what had happened. As 
they lost consciousness, they turned a yellow- 
brown colour, and never made any attempt 
to stir — ^just went to sleep and did not awaken 
— while those who got just a slight touch of 
it, would stagger about, as if deeply intoxi- 
cated. 

Volunteers were asked, one day, to go to a 
V-shaped sector where the British and the 
German lines were so close that grenades 
could be easily thrown from one trench to 
another — and they were! Thinking that it 
would be an easier job than what I had been 
doing, I gave in my name. I think nearly 
half of my company volunteered, but I was 
among the first eighteen to be picked. We 

172 



THE BLACK WATCH 

were armed with grenades enough to do an 
hour's bombing. Two of the men were de- 
tailed to keep renewing the sandbags as they 
were torn down by the boches' constant 
bombing. The German grenades, set with 
a time fuse, exploded a few seconds after 
leaving the thrower's hand. The boches 
were evidently nervous about these grenades, 
for they almost invariably cut the time fuse 
too long or threw the bomb too soon after 
cutting it, so that our men frequently caught 
the unexploded grenades and hurled them 
back at the Germans. 

The first two to go "west" when our vol- 
unteer party got into action were the sandbag 
men, and at the end of that hour there were 
only four of us left to come out of that Hell, 
ten being killed and four badly wounded. 
After our turn, volunteers were entirely out 
of the question, so each section had to take 
an hour at it. The trench point where the 
bombing occurred was called the "Glory 
Hole," and it was well named. 

Upon getting back to the trench, I swore 
off "bombing," and decided that I would 
stick to scouting, although almost all the old 

173 



THE BLACK WATCH 

scouts had been killed. Why I was not, is 
still a mystery to me. After a few days at 
the "'Glory Hole" we were sent to the rear 
to billets. 

You will remember that there were thir- 
teen bullet holes in the Potsdam bugle which 
I brought back from the charge on the Ger- 
man trenches near La Bassee. How many 
of them were made after the bugle came into 
my possession and was put in my pack, I do 
not know, but, at any rate, I believe that 
thirteen is my lucky number. This is the 
reason: After a short rest in billets, we were 
returned to a portion of the trench near a 
part we had occupied before. The regiment 
had been recruited up to full strength again, 
and I can tell you that there were very few 
of the original Black Watch left. In fact, 
the personnel that we now had was almost a 
third regiment. In order to reach the high 
broken ground to our right, where there was 
a great deal of patrolling and scouting to be 
done, it was necessary to cross an absolutely 
exposed strip of ground about thirty yards 
long. So many men had been killed here 
that we called it "crossing the bar" when we 

174 



THE BLACK WATCH 

had to traverse this neck of land. You must 
remember, we did not have a decent air fleet 
in those days and infantry patroUing and 
scouting were much more important than they 
are to-day. From the high ground to the 
right, much information of the movements 
of German troops could be gained. When- 
ever they saw even a single man "crossing 
the bar," the Huns would let loose a salvo 
of artillery fire. 

I usually waited until it was dark enough 
to see the flashes of their guns before crossing 
this strip, and whenever I saw the first flash 
I would sprint a few paces toward it and then 
flop down. The Germans had the range ex- 
actly. By sprinting, I stood a good chance 
of getting in ahead of the burst, and as 
shrapnel carried forward, the ruse worked 
nicely. In order to show a party of the new 
scouts the way across the bar, I was sent out 
with twelve of them, thus making a "party oj 
thirteen. Before we started I drew a rough 
sketch for them and told them, as exactly as 
I could, just what to do when we were fired 
upon. That we would be fired upon was a 
certainty. 

175 



THE BLACK WATCH 

About the centre of this open strip was the 
dried bed of a stream between deeply worn 
banks and this afforded the only protection 
on the way across. When the light was just 
right, we moved out to the edge of the bar. 
I gave my men a few last instructions. It 
was time to go. I took one last look across 
the ground which was literally covered with 
shell splinters and deeply furrowed. 

"Rush!" I yelled. We went forward in a 
thin line. 

I saw the expected flash of the guns. 

"Straight toward them!" I shouted; and 
we all ran madly in the direction from which 
the shells were coming. 

"Down!" I roared with every bit of voice 
that was in me, at the same time flopping 
down flat on my face. 

There was a terrific crash! It seemed all 
around me. I could not tell whether it was 
in front or behind. I was surprised that I 
was not hurt. I heard groaning behind me. 
One of my men was wounded. There was not 
another sound. I thought the others must 
have kept on running despite my instructions, 
and were now in the little bed of the stream 

176 



THE BLACK WATCH 

waiting for me. I dared not move. I had to 
lie as one dead or the guns would have begun 
crashing again and they would get me and the 
wounded man behind me. Flare rockets 
illumined the sky. I prayed that the man 
who was hurt would lie still. If he hadn't 
done so it would have been all over with both 
of us. 

Half an hour I lay there in the mud until 
the rockets were no longer going up and I 
thought it safe to move. I crept a few feet 
over the ground. My hands were upon the 
body of a man, but he was not groaning. 
Yet the groaning continued from nearby. I 
realized that one of my men had been killed. 
I crept farther in the direction of the groan- 
ing. I bumped into a huddled mass. It was 
another body. 

Still I groped around. I had found three 
now. At last I reached the man who was 
hurt. He wasn't moving, only groaning. I 
thought that there were others of the little 
party who needed help. In the darkness I 
wriggled here and there. I found another 
body. That made four. Then five — six — 
seven — and so on till I found eleven. There 

177 



THE BLACK WATCH 

were only two of us left — the wounded man 
and myself! 

I stood up despairing and like one lost. I 
almost wished that I had been one of the 
eleven who had "crossed the bar" once for 
all. I got the wounded man onto my shoulder 
in the style which is known as "the fireman's 
carry," and started back with him, walking 
erect. I had forgotten the danger of shells. 
Luckily it was inky dark and I was not seen. 

I staggered against a part of our barbed 
wire entanglements. I called for help. Four 
men crawled over the parapet to meet me. 
They dragged the wounded man to the edge 
of the parapet. He was still groaning faintly 
though he lay as one dead. As we lifted him 
over the edge of the trench, the groaning 
ceased. He was dead! / alone of the thirteen 
had come back alive ! 

While we were laying out the corpse, we 
heard the look-out sentry halting some one. 
I jumped onto the fire-step and plainly saw 
a figure straightening up on our side of the 
barbed wire, with his hands over his head, 
coming right forward. He dropped into our 
trench, of course with the sentry holding his 

178 



THE BLACK WATCH 

bayonet pointed at him. It was plain to be 
seen that the young German was giving him- 
self up, no doubt being sick of the fighting. 
He made a motion as if to put his hand in- 
side his coat, but the man with the bayonet 
was taking no chances and made a lunge at 
him, which greatly frightened the lad. So he 
made us understand as well as he might, still 
holding his hands aloft, that he had something 
in his pocket he wanted to show us. The 
sergeant stepped over and took out the con- 
tents of the pocket. He did not have any 
firearms at all. Among the few things in his 
pocket was a worn plain envelope, and at 
this he pointed. Inside was a sheet of paper 
and on it was written in good English: 

"English soldiers, please be kind to my 
boy." 

The sergeant asked me to take the boy 
back to the officers' quarters with him, as I 
had yet to report my sad experience in " Cross- 
ing the Bar." The case of the boy prisoner 
proved an extraordinary one. An officer of 
the engineers attached to the Black Watch, 
who could speak German, questioned him. 
The boy had not the least idea what the fight- 

179 



THE BLACK WATCH 

ing was about. He told the officer that his 
mother had given him the letter as she felt 
sure that the English would be kind to him. 
She had told him that he should give himself 
up at the first opportunity. He was her only 
son. 

We learned from him of preparations for 
an attack by the Germans at dawn, which 
corroborated the information our staff al- 
ready had. He was treated very kindly. He 
seemed very much taken aback at the kind 
treatment accorded him, and asked if it was 
the custom of the English to treat prisoners 
kindly before torturing and putting them to 
death. Upon hearing this, the officer he was 
speaking to laughed uproariously for fully a 
minute, and the others wanted to know the 
joke. He told them and some joined in the 
laugh. The officer patted the boy on the 
back; gave him his letter, telling him at the 
same time to treasure it; and said that he 
would no doubt meet his mother again. 

The boy fell upon his knees and tried to 
kiss the officer's hand, sobbing like a child. 
But the officer nearly turned a backward 
somersault, getting away from the hand 

180 



THE BLACK WATCH 

kissing, and swore as if he would eat the 
lad up. 

Sure enough, the next morning the attack 
came off, but we were prepared for it. Just 
at "stand to" before dawn, ^ our artillery 
opened fire and kept pounding at them until 
about eight o'clock; the enemy replying very 
vigorously. They attempted to get over 
their parapet, but gave it up until about 
noon. They tried it again. Our artillery 
opened up on them, and some forces along our 
line charged the Germans. 

The Black Watch had supports up and were 
to make a charge at two o'clock that day, 
but the sleet came on with an awful wind, 
and this prevented it. Instead, the regiment 
in support came up and took our place in 
the trenches. We moved along some distance 
to the right flank. The sleet and rain con- 
tinued, also the wind. We were cold, miser- 
able, and grousing in good style because we 
found we had to take another part of the 
trench, instead of going, as we thought, to 
billets. However, we got an extra issue of 

rum. 

This place was pitted with big shell holes. 

ISl 



THE BLACK WATCH 

It looked extremely weird. One sigarree (fire 
box with charcoal) was issued to a company, 
and we would take our turn in getting warmed 
up from it. This lasted only a few days, for 
very soon the Germans sighted the smoke, 
which drew their shell fire, and so we were 
glad to abandon the sigarrees and suffer the 
cold. 



182 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN 

WE WERE by no means well acquainted 
with our new position, and one night 
shortly after our arrival, two of the 
men who had been sent out to reconnoitre, 
were captured by the enemy, who let them 
go, however, after stripping them to the skin. 

When they returned they had big bayonet 
wounds in their hips, and were suffering 
greatly both from the wounds and exposure. 
You can imagine our feelings at such wanton 
cruelty. 

Previous to this for some time I hadn't 
beenTgiven any scouting duty and had been 
resting, but a few nights after this occurrence, 
shortly after dusk, I was sent to a listening 
post, which was situated to the right front 
of our open flank. The ground was very 
broken and the temperature was touching on 
the zero mark. Before starting out, we had 
just got our night issue of rum. A lance- 

183 



THE BLACK WATCH 

corporal accompanied me, and after lots of 
manoeuvring and stumbling through shell 
holes half filled with slush, we arrived at the 
place where I had to listen for movements 
of German artillery, transports, troops, etc. 

We crawled to the edge of the bank, which 
overlooked a creek or canal. W^e knew the 
German lines were just across that short 
space. The lance-corporal said he would see 
that some one should be sent to relieve me 
in half an hour; then he departed. He had 
not gone more than a hundred paces, I should 
judge, when the German artillery let loose. 
It seemed as if a thousand hells had erupted. 
I was dumbfounded. I wiggled backward on 
my stomach, until I slid into a shell hole full 
of water and mud. I did not mind the cold; 
it helped to brace me — to realize fully the 
situation in which I was placed. The shell 
fire was lighting up the heavens; splinters, 
slugs, and bullets filled the air. 

I began saying my prayers. (I thought 
this would be my last listening duty on earth.) 
I crouched as low as the slush in the hole 
would allow me. Even while in this position, 
bullets and shrapnel embedded themselves 

184 



THE BLACK WATCH 

so near me that, had I Hfted my head, I 
should have been plugged instantly. 

The hellish bombardment seemed unceasing. 
I was cramped and numb. How long the 
firing lasted I do not know. At last, however, 
I became conscious that the clouds were 
clearing away and I discerned a pale moon. 
I tried to drag myself out of the freezing 
slush, but couldn't. All the power in my 
body seemed gone. The shelling had ceased 
and there was a dead silence. I knew I was 
freezing to death. I once even tried to 
place the muzzle of my rifle under my chin 
and blow my head off, but I was unable to 
feel for the rifle. My hands had lost sense 
of touch. My lower limbs were insensible. 
I gave up all hopes of help or of ever leaving 
the shell hole — alive. 

What seemed a long time after I had deemed 
myself lost I heard some one in the vicinity. 
I wasn't able to lift my head. I tried to 
speak. I was as one dead, with the exception 
of my brain. 

The next thing I knew something was being 
poured down my throat. Some one was at- 
tending to me but I was unconcerned. I 

185 



TQE BLACK WATCH 

wanted only to die. If I could but have 
spoken, I would have begged the men who 
were attending me to put me out of my 
agony. After a while, I recognized them as 
our men. They were rubbing and slapping 
my body for all they were worth. Now and 
again one of them put his water bottle to my 
mouth. At first I could not make out what 
he was trying to pour down my throat, but 
at last I recognized it as rum. I forced myself 
to drink it. Then they rubbed my abdomen 
and legs with some of it as briskly as they 
could. One of them exchanged his kilt for 
mine; then they both wrapped their great- 
coats around me, and, between them, man- 
aged to carry me back to the trenches — to 
safety. 

The jolting on the way back started my 
blood circulating. It is beyond me to explain 
exactly the feeling. My stomach began 
aching as if it contained boiling lead; then a 
feeling as if a million electrically charged 
wires had commenced to burn in the lower 
part of my abdomen and down to my lower 
limbs. I had the desire to shout out loud; 
whether or not I did, to this day I cannot tell. 

186 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I must have gone completely insane with the 
pain for a while, for later I found myself 
struggling with a group of men, and they were 
urging me to keep quiet. They poured lots 
of rum into me, and I began to feel much 
better; in fact, more like myself, except that 
my legs and feet were like lumps of lead. 

During this time — since my rescue from the 
shell hole — the Germans had made a charge 
and were repulsed. The Black Watch had 
taken a line of their trench and were holding 
it. Two men had been sent out to find what 
had happened to the lance-corporal and my- 
self, as the company commander had been 
expecting our report. They found the lance- 
corporal, riddled with bullets, not far from 
where he had left me. When they came 
across me I had done an eight hours' stretch 
of duty. 

I stayed in the reserve trench until we 
went to billets, a couple of days after this. 
We were looking forward to spending Christ- 
mas in billets, but were disappointed. 

We had hardly been ''cushy" three days, 
when we were sent to hold a position on the 
left flank of an English battalion of what we 

187 



THE BLACK WATCH 

believed to be the Sussex Regiment. It was 
just two days before Christmas when we 
took up this position. 

It was much quieter here. Snow had fallen 
during the night, giving the ground a sort 
of peaceful appearance, except for a few dark 
patches where some "Jack Johnsons" or 
"Black Marias" had landed toward dawn. 
(It was Christmas Day.) Just after "stand 
down," our mail was issued. It consisted 
mostly of parcels. Our part of the trench 
was very fortunate. Every man had at least 
two letters and as many parcels. I received 
three in the same handwriting and a two- 
pound box of chocolate almonds. Parcels con- 
taining socks, mittens, scarfs, etc., were 
pounced upon by all hands, as these articles 
were very much needed at this time. Next 
in importance came the cigarettes, of which we 
received a goodly supply. 

I need hardly say that we all tasted one an- 
other's luxuries — shortbread, chocolates, and 
currant cakes (which had to be eaten mostly 
with a spoon because of the rough handling 
they had had) — and we exchanged confidences 
about our letters whether they were from 

188 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Miss Campbell, Mrs. Low, or Uncle Sandy. 

Every Tommy, every Jock, learns to know 
and to love his trench mate as a brother. 
The men in the "ditches" feel as if they all 
belonged to the one mother, sharing each 
other's confidences, both pleasant and sad. 
There is no selfishness — not even a thought of 
it — "over there." 

We were all sitting round the fire-steps of 
our trenches, thinking, ever thinking, and 
wondering how many of us would live to see 
the same sun rise on another Christmas Day. 
The sun was red. It appeared to be dripping- 
red — with blood, when a slight commotion 
started up along to the right. I grasped my 
rifle and at the same time looked round the 
little traverse. I saw a few chaps with their 
heads over the parapet — which seemed un- 
wise and extremely dangerous. I thought we 
had been surprised by the Huns, and took a 
glance in the direction of their trenches, which 
looked as quiet as our own. But I could see 
thin lines of smoke rising up at irregular 
intervals from the fires they had built. Al- 
most at the same instant my eye caught sight 
of a figure some six hundred yards to our 

189 



THE BLACK WATCH 

right proceeding in the direction of the 
boches' trenches; and, to crown all, he was a 
British Tommy ! 

I thought the man must have gone out of 
his mind, and when I looked at where he came 
from, it seemed as if the whole regiment was 
viewing the daring proceedings of this sol- 
itary individual "between the lines." At 
that part the trenches were much nearer than 
at ours. They seemed there about two hun- 
dred yards apart, while ours were about five 
hundred yards distant from Fritz. 

I saw the solitary Tommy walk right on 
to within a few yards of the German entangle- 
ments and pause a minute; then a boche's 
head could be seen. At this, Tommy picked 
his way over the entanglements very cau- 
tiously. 

My heart was in my mouth ! I could scarce- 
ly keep from shouting when he reached the 
edge of the enemy parapet and — disappeared ! 

By this time our regiment was practically 
all on the fire-step, breathlessly watching and 
ready for what might happen after the dis- 
appearance of this "madcap." 

Five minutes more elapsed. Then a head 

190 



THE BLACK WATCH 

bobbed up at the same spot we had been 
watching, and out of the trench came — the 
selfsame Tommy. He was carrying some- 
thing in his hand. My eyes kept steady on 
him until he reached his own parapet, where 
he stood a moment flourishing this article; 
then, clasping it to him as if prizing it, he got 
down into the trench. While he had stood 
there for a moment, his fellow trench-mates 
threw out their arms to take his precious 
bundle from him, but as I say, he seemed to 
hold tightly on to it. When I looked back 
at the place he hadj'ust left, the Germans 
were waving their helmets, with heads above 
the parapet. It was Christmas all right! and 
we certainly got a Santa Claus surprise in 
watching these unusual proceedings. 

They were getting bolder on both sides at 
this part of the line, and a few men began 
walking on their parapets, finally coming 
closer and then meeting men from the enemy 
trench. Then followed a football match with 
regimental shirts tied up. To see those 
Tommies charging with their shoulders and 
explaining the game to the Germans, who were 
not so well acquainted with it, was a Christ- 

191 



THE BLACK WATCH 

mas festival in itself that will never be for- 
gotten by those who witnessed it. 

[We found out afterward that " Spud " Smith 
— ^who had just received a lovely "currant 
bun" from home and was overjoyed with it — 
was jumping round and making so much 
noise about it, that the fellows dared him to 
take it over to the Germans and wish them 
"A Merry Christmas." He at once threw off 
his equipment and made toward them, where 
he received his Christmas present in the form 
of a bottle of "schnapps." "Spud" Smith 
was the madcap of his regiment.] 

A few minutes after midnight, we were 
brought back to war again by the Germans 
sheUing us all along the line. 

Everything was tolerably quiet, with the 
exception of an occasional shelling from either 
side, until New Year's Eve, when an infernal 
row got up and on New Year's Day we had 
about one hundred and thirty casualties. 
The shelling grew worse, and we discovered 
that the Saxons had been relieved by the 
Prussians. Twice they charged us in mass 
formation, and we were forced to retire to 
our second-line trenches. It was their idea 

192 



THE BLACK WATCH 

and intention to break through our Hnes to 
get to Calais in time for the Kaiser's birth- 
day. This was the beginning of their big 
drive. Although we got a severe cutting up, 
we managed to hold all the ground we had, 
despite their mass formation, which is a 
stern and dreadful thing to face. 

One morning, about the middle of January, 
the coal boxes, Jack Johnsons and Black 
Marias were just simply shaking the earth. 
The German airplanes had been very active 
these last few days, and it seemed they were 
giving their heavy artillery the proper range 
on our lines. The Jack Johnsons were land- 
ing to the right of our regiment and were 
gradually working their way up toward us. 
We could see them tearing up parts of the 
trenches — smashing up men, whose limbs 
were sent flying up through the air. The 
sight was really too frightful to recall. 

Orders were given that the Black Watch 
should stand to its post and that no man 
was to retire. But as the heavy shells drew 
nearer, smashing everything up, they proved 
too much for the recruits who had joined us 
only within the last few days, and they made 

193 



THE BLACK WATCH 

for the reserve trenches. By this time the 
Germans were beginning to make their ad- 
vance in waves. Word was passed along that 
our regiment should retire to its reserve 
trenches, but it came too late for a few of 
us, — as we were already pumping it into the 
Germans. Those who had retired were firing 
over our heads at the advancing Huns, thus 
making it dangerous for us to withdraw. 

Just as I had made up my mind that we 
must get back somehow, Sergeant Johnstone 
crept to my side and said; "Cassells, let's 
stick it out. This might last only a few 
minutes more and then it'll be all right again." 

"All right, Johnstone," I said; and we 
shook hands. 

Our own shells were bursting so close to 
our front that they were showering us with 
earth and stones. 

I saw the nearest Germans about a couple 
of hundred yards away. 

Then suddenly a dark curtain dropped be- 
fore my eyes.^ 



194 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

I SEEMED to awake from a long sleep, 
only to discover that instead of being in 
a trench or a billet I was in a hospital; one 
of the kind made of canvas. There were two 
great marquee tents, with nurses flitting about 
quietly— like angels they seemed to me, for 
the moment. 

The pain that racked my body was awful. 
I lay there trying to determine in what part 
of me the pain was located but it seemed to 
be all over me. I noticed that either a nurse 
or an orderly was constantly in attendance 

at my cot. 

As my comprehension of things about me 
became clearer, I realized that my neighbour 
was a German. His moaning, coupled with 
his muttering of ''Achy mein Gott in Himmeir 
got on my nerves, but I decided to say nothing, 
as I had not yet learned whether it was an 
enemy hospital or one of our own. I decided 
that if it was the former, the quietest way 

195 



THE BLACK WATCH 

to die was the best, if die I must. During 
one of the moaning spells of my neighbour, 
I seemed to lose consciousness. When I 
'^came back," a soft voice whispered in my 
ear: ''It's all right; keep still; we are only 
taking a plate of your leg." 

An English voice! — and with such kindness 
in it! Our own hospital! Not a prisoner! 
I just wanted to cry out, from sheer happi- 
ness. 

When next I found myself in my cot, that 
awful pain was unnerving me, but the doctor. 
Captain Allen, assured me that I would be 
all right after a few weeks' rest in Blighty. 
I immediately asked when I was to go. His 
reply was: ''When your temperature goes 
down.^ It has been 104 for about a week." 

I said I would like to write home, and my 
soft-voiced nurse thereupon brought me paper 
and envelope. I moved to extend my right 
hand for the paper, and with dismay found 
it in splints and bandages, with a strong 
resemblance to a huge boxing glove. Quickly 
I glanced at the left hand, to find with relief 
that it, at least, was whole. 

I had of course never learned to use my left 

196 



THE BLACK WATCH 

hand for writing. Observing my need of 
assistance, the nurse sat on the edge of my 
bed and took pen and paper to write for me. 
I had not even to ask her to do this service. 
The tears came into my eyes at her willing, 
quiet helpfulness. 

After she had finished writing my letter, 
I asked her about my condition. She seemed 
reluctant to tell me, but as I urged her to do 
so she finally said: 

"Your leg will probably have to be ampu- 
tated, as it has been completelj^ turned round 
and the knee badly shattered. Some splinters 
of shell still remain in it." 

She left me — but not for long. She had gone 
for the plate with the impression of my knee. 
This she held up to what light could get 
through the roof of the yellow canvas, and the 
picture I saw quite startled me. I counted 
four little black specks around the joint, 
and to one piece in particular she called my 
attention. It was about the size of a one- 
carat diamond pointed at both ends and was 
embedded in the knee cap. This tiny object 
was giving me nearly all of my pain. 

The medical officer on his rounds ap- 

197 



THE BLACK WATCH 

proached us and greeted me with "You cer- 
tainly had a miraculous escape." 

Later, one of my mates in the hospital, 
who was with my regiment, told me how 
I got mine. He had witnessed it. A Jack 
Johnson striking about fifteen yards in front 
of the trench I was in, exploded, caving the 
trench in for a length of about thirty yards. 
I, with Sergeant Johnstone, who had come up 
the previous day with reinforcements, was 
buried completely. Then the Germans 
charged over the trench at our fellows, who 
retired to their reserve trenches. However, 
the enemy was repulsed and had to retire 
to their own lines again. This fight started 
about 2 p. M., and it was not until about nine 
o'clock that night that our company came 
up and began to re-open the trench. It seems 
that one fellow was about to use his pick 
when another close by with a shovel noticed 
something in the form of a head. He stayed 
the hand with the pick just in time. It was 
a head — and mine at that. They completely 
unearthed me, and, as I looked to be dead, 
placed me to one side with a waterproof sheet 
over me, to be buried later. Luckily enough, 

198. 



THE BLACK WATCH 

a medical officer examined me and found there 
was still a little life left. He used artificial 
respiration, put my legs in splints made up 
of empty ration boxes, bandaged my damaged 
right hand, and sent me to the Rouen Hospi- 
tal, unconscious, but with a spark of life 
still in me. 

Even after two weeks' stay in the hospital 
my condition was still very critical, but I had 
the courage and optimism peculiar to the 
Scot and my hopes for recovery endured 
stubbornly. The moans of my German 
neighbour, mixed with cries for ^^Das EiJ'' 
didn't allay my fever at all. No one knew 
what he wanted. Latterly one of our wounded 
fellows called the nurse over and suggested 
very earnestly that perhaps he had a glass eye 
and it needed some attention. The nurse 
at once examined his eyes, but found them 
all right. 

However, the next medical officer on duty 
understood German and acquainted the nurse 
with the fact that the patient had been 
calling for an egg. He marked on his chart 
that he should be given two fresh eggs every 
morning. 

199 



THE BLACK WATCH 

This German was accorded first attention, 
while our own boys had to be content with 
being next in Kne. We could not kick, how- 
ever, as the doctors and nurses stretched their 
ability to do for others to the utmost. 
After our prisoner had had his hunger ap- 
peased with the "Ei," he seemed content to 
die, for that is just what he did. From what 
I could learn, his injury had been a bad 
one, a large piece of shell having pierced 
his chest. 

I felt sure, when I saw him carried out, that 
my turn was next. Then I discovered that 
the number of my cot was 13^ so — recalling 
the many escapes from death I had had and 
how this number had been concerned in them, 
my hopes for recovery went soaring high. 

Now I was recovering enough to take an 
interest in other cases in the ward, and 
one in particular, a Royal Irish Fusilier, in 
the cot opposite me. He had forty-eight 
bullet wounds in his body. He had already 
been in this ward six weeks, so I knew then 
I wasn't the worst case there. My tem- 
perature had now dropped to 100, and I 
was informed that an orderly would bring 

200 



THE BLACK WATCH 

my clothes and get me ready for a journey. 
This meant Blighty! 

A couple of the Royal Army Medical Corps 
men came into the tent and very gently laid 
me in a stretcher, then carried me out along 
narrow pathways bordered by neatly white- 
washed stones and rows of double-linked 
marquee tents with similar neat arrangements 
of stones at the entrances. There seemed 
to be a city of tents on the Rouen Champ de 
Course (race course), and outside of it too, 
as far as my eyes could see. 

At the end farthest from the cook-house 
huts, I noticed a large boiler arrangement 
with a funnel sticking up at one end and on 
the door some large print, but I could not 
read the lettering. I asked one of the men 
what the object was. I was informed that 
it was used for disinfecting Tommy's clothes 
and exterminating the cooties that they 
sheltered. Tommy gets a change to hospital 
clothing as soon as he enters the base hospital. 
On taking a second look at the sign, I made 
out "Germ-Hun Exterminator." So when 
Tommy gets his clothes out of ''dock" 
(hospital), and grumbles at the R. A. M. C. 

201 



THE BLACK WATCH 

orderlies when he finds his collection of souve- 
nirs depleted, they promptly put the blame 
on the "Germ-Hun." 

As soon as I was placed in an ambulance, 
a tag was fastened to my lapel and I was 
ready for the road along with other lucky 
chaps. It seemed as if we were hardly 
settled when we arrived at the railway sta- 
tion. An ambulance train was waiting here 
for us, and before many minutes had elapsed 
we found ourselves en route for Le Havre. 
We arrived here the same night and were 
placed aboard the S.S. Asturias, 

When we were about mid-channel, a torpedo 
from a German submarine just cleared the 
bow of our ship by a few feet. Even a hospi- 
tal ship is a target for the missiles of the 
enemy. 

We arrived next morning at Southampton 
without further occurrences of moment. 

Each patient was asked where he wished 
to be sent. It was natural that each should 
give his home district. We were placed in 
rows in the large shed on the wharf, and our 
destination marked on our tickets. We were 
now ready for our next part of the journey. 

202 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Suddenly my attention was attracted by 
vigorous exclamations. From the patient in 
the stretcher next to me I heard vociferous 
"bly'me-ing" in a very strong cockney accent. 
I asked the disturber what he was making all 
the row about. 

"Bli' me," he said, "they've gawn an' gyve 
me a ticket to th' bloomink end o' Scotland!" 

"Is it a mistake?" I asked. 

"Mistyke!" said he. "Is it a mistyke? 
Hit's a mistyke that tykes in th' whole bloomink 
ge-hography of Britain." 

He communed with himself a moment in 
eloquent but inelegant language. Then he 

asked: 

"Where've they ticketed you to, myte?" 
I hadn't thought of looking at my ticket, 
but now I noted that I was destined for 
"Chelsea, London, S. W." So he outlined a 
scheme to which I readily agreed. We 
exchanged tickets. 

I adopted his name "Bill Mortimer" of the 
Rifle Brigade and soon I was making for 
"th' bloomink end o' Scotland," while he was 
en route for Chelsea under his assumed 



name. 

203 



THE BLACK WATCH 

When I arrived in an Aberdeen Hospital, 
they were a good few days trying to account 
for me, as my papers had naturally gone to 
Chelsea. Ultimately they came to the con- 
clusion that there must have been an error at 
Southampton; and sure enough, my record 
was finally located at the London hospital. 

It was one of the best errors that could have 
happened, for very soon I found myself in 
the ''Craigleith Military Hospital" within 
commuting distance of my relatives and 
friends. I never heard any more of my friend 
"Bill Mortimer," but I have no doubt the 
"error" proved a good one to him also. 

Two medical officers looked me over very 
carefully the first day. The next day they 
came back accompanied by the chief medi- 
cal officer. Colonel CottrilL After the latter 
examined me carefully he said that "an 
immediate amputation would be the wisest 
plan." He asked me whether other examining 
physicians had told me the same thing. 

I said: "Yes; but I think it will be all 
right. See, I can wiggle my toes." And I 
pointed out that this was a sure sign of hope 
for a recovery without amputation. 

204 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Then commenced a daily routine of ban- 
daging which stretched into months; every 
conceivable treatment for my betterment was 
given me; a plaster-of -Paris cast was put on 
my knee, and after it was on a week or two, 
the effect was simply wonderful. 

By this time, my hand could be used a 
little, but I found myself minus a finger 
and with two others broken. They, however, 
healed to normal. 

Every week, during our long stay in the 
hospital, entertainments were given for us by 
professional actors and actresses. Visitors 
were permitted to call Wednesdays and 
Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.; on other days 
from 1 to 3 p.m. I cannot describe the 
generosity and kindness of the people of 
Edinburgh. 

Every day came armfuls of flowers — the 
most soothing offering a convalescent Tommy 
can receive, outside of the occasional kiss 
some dear wee lass would imprint on his 
cheek. Both are wonderful in their ability 
to cheer a lonesome Tommy, who, perhaps, 
finds himself far from his home folk! 
Every day the ladies and young girls of the 

S05 



THE BLACK WATCH 

town came to sit by our cots and read to 
us or write our letters. It was an enormous 
hospital, having often as many as 1100 
patients and every man in it, even those 
who were strangers in Scotland, had daily 
visitors in plenty. English and Welsh sol- 
diers, too far from home to receive the atten- 
tion of their own people, were given even 
more favours than the Scots. Every day, a 
flock of big motor cars drew up and carried 
away those who were far enough toward re- 
covery for a ride. We had many delightful 
hours rolling swiftly through the picturesque 
city of Edinburgh, along the banks of the 
Forth and up through the beautiful Pentland 
Hills. 

Our lockers were well filled, and we never 
wanted for such dainties as chocolates and 
fancy biscuits, and we had magazines, and — 
above all — cigarettes. 

A party of our lady visitors brought us wool 
and volunteered to teach us the art of knitting 
to while away our idle time. Most of the boys 
took kindly enough to it, but I wanted to 
learn embroidery. It caused no end of merri- 
ment that a man should want to sew. How- 

S06 



THE BLACK WATCH 

ever, I persuaded them to try me, and one 
of them offered to do so. 

In India I had done quite a little at sketch- 
ing, and my teacher found me an apt pupil 
in this allied art. Very soon I had mastered 
the art of making long and short stitches, 
French knots, border and buttonhole stitches, 
etc. I was so highly commended that I 
received many requests from these ladies 
for cushion covers, doilies, etc. They brought 
the materials and I plied the needle. It was 
such enticing work that very soon two other 
fellows "joined in." 

We had many other ways of passing the 
time. Visitors would ask us to write or 
sketch something in their autograph books, 
which we did with much pleasure, and I can 
tell you that some very, very funny local 
sketches and poetry — composed on the spur 
of the moment, with fellow mates, nurses, 
and doctors as the subjects — were carried 
away from that hospital. They were highly 
prized by the recipients. We had also a 
monthly Gazette recording the events of the 
daily life of the hospital in a breezy and 
interesting way. 

207' 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I saw many a bad case brought in, get well, 
and sent home, but still I remained, and so 
Corporal Charles Palmer, who had been there 
the longest, promoted himself to be "Com- 
mander-in-Chief" and took me as second in 
command, I being next to him in length of 
time there. One of his legs had been blown 
off six inches above the knee and the pain he 
suffered at times was excruciating. Another 
lad, a German, sixteen years of age, had had 
both legs blown off below the knees by one of 
the Germans' own shells just as he was about 
to give himself up to the British. He spoke 
very good English and was surprisingly cheery. 
The fair sex found him very attractive and he 
always got an ample share of the dainties 
they brought. 

I was still in the hospital when the awful 
*' Gretna Green" disaster happened. Perhaps 
you remember it. A regiment of the Royal 
Scots was on its way to the front. Their 
train collided with another at Gretna Green 
near the Carlisle Junction, resulting in the 
loss of more than one hundred lives. Some 
of those that required medical attention were 
sent to Craigleith, and among the few that 

208 



THE BLACK WATCH 

found themselves in our ward was a very 
broad-spoken Scot. He was on seven days' 
leave, but being "full of happiness," some- 
how or another got mixed in at Edinburgh 
station with the lads of the wreck. He spied 
an empty cot which he immediately made 
for and fell asleep upon it. Soon afterward. 
Colonel Sir Joseph Farrer, Commandant of 
the hospital, came along to see the Gretna 
lads. When he came to this cot he slowly 
uncovered the face of the presumed patient 
and asked: "How are you?" The Scot, so 
rudely aroused, sat up, exclaiming: ; "Fine, 
mon; hoo's yersel'?" The colonel was non- 
plussed for the moment, but hastily recovered 
himself however, and shook the extended 
hand of the erstwhile patient, much to the 
amusement of the rest of us. 

Among the "padres" to visit the hospital 
,was a Major Chaplain of the Church of Eng- 
land. He seemed particularly interested in 
our ward (G ward) and made as many as 
three visits a week. 

Thursdays, after tea, was prayer meeting 
for us, as well as for a few of the other wards. 
Of course, it was impossible for all the wards 

209 



THE BLACK WATCH 

to have the meeting on the same evening, 
owing to the large number of them and the 
scarcity of clergymen, so many of whom 
were with the boys in France. On one Thurs- 
day evening in particular, the Church of 
England chaplain I have just mentioned was 
about to commence the service when the 
absence of the organ (which was a little port- 
able one, such as is used by the Salvation 
Army) was discovered. 

A couple of men who could walk volunteered 
to go in search of the organ, but they couldn't 
find it. Then Sister Brian, a most accommo- 
dating nurse, whose Cockney accent was an 
unmistakable mark of her early upbringing, 
went out to locate the missing organ. After 
a few minutes she returned and startled the 
ward by announcing, from the doorway: 
"You men 'ad hall better go to 'Hell' (mean- 
ing L ward). Th' horgan's in 'Hell,' an' th' 
services habout to begin." 

There was a general roar of laughter and 
the reverend gentleman strenuously refused 
the invitation. 

When the patients were well on the road to 
recovery, they would be sent to one of the 

210 



THE BLACK WATCH 

many mansions opened by the owners as 
homes for convalescents. Here they would 
remain for a few weeks, perhaps a month, 
before being sent to their homes. This stay 
will be among the pleasantest memories of 
those who experienced it. The beautifully- 
laid-out and spacious grounds and the auto 
rides ! How it all helped to hasten re- 
covery! 

I cannot conclude without trying to express 
the praise which most certainly belongs to 
the medical oflBcers of "Craigleith." At the 
outbreak of the war, Colonel Cottrill had been 
retired ten years, but he was found ready when 
the first note of the nation's rally sounded, 
and there he remained when I left, serving his 
king and country in relieving, by his expert 
skill, the sufferings of those who come under 
his care. He was over seventy years of age, 
but he most truly was seventy years young. 

Of the nurses and sisters I could not say 
enough. Sister Lauder, for instance; I have 
seen her do thirty-six hours' duty at one 
stretch, without the sightest rest, at a time 
when streams of wounded were pouring in 
day and night. Once she collapsed in the 

211 



THE BLACK WATCH 

middle of the ward. Such devotion, such 
wonderful spirit these women exhibited! 

I was discharged on August 5th, 1915, 
being "no longer physically jit for war ser- 
vice. (Para. 392, XVI, K.R.) 



212 




CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

N A day in February, 1916 — a week 
prior to the sailing of the S.S. Tuscania, 
on which I had taken passage to the 
United States — I had left the office of the An- 
chor Line and was proceeding up the High 
Street, of Cowdenbeath (across the river from 
Edinburgh), bent on an errand pertaining 
to the preparations for my departure, when 
I noticed across the way something famihar 
in the appearance of a tall man in khaki. 
Twice or thrice I gazed at him, with a sense 
of dim recollection, and then I went walking 
— or, rather, limping — on my way. There were 
uniforms everywhere and one, even though 
it seemed in some way distinctive, could not 
hold my attention. I started to cross the 
street but when I was in the car track, in the 
middle, a sound arrested me. 

"Renter! Renter!" called a voice which 
was strangely familiar. 

WTio, thought I, is this, calling me by my 



THE BLACK WATCH 

nickname? I turned and saw the tall soldier 
whom I had noticed, limping toward me at 
the best gait his lameness permitted. I 
perceived that he wore a Black Watch forage 
cap. As I stood, awaiting his approach, I 
suddenly recognized him as my chum, Ned 

MacD ; the same Ned whom I had left 

in a hollow, in a wood, in France, grievously 
wounded, and who had mysteriously dis- 
appeared when I found opportunity to return 
in search of him. 

I had long believed him dead, for his name 
had appeared in our casualty lists among 
those of the killed. I was so overcome at 
seeing him that I stood as one struck dumb. 
In a moment, however, we were clasped in 
each other's arms like a couple of bairns, the 
tears trickling down our faces. 

There we stood, speaking to each other 
as Scots will, in excitement, in the broad 
Scotch of our childhood days, until a sharp 
clang awakened us. It was from a tramcar 
bell. We were standing in the middle of the 
single line, and completely blocking traffic. 
Linking our arms together we made for the 
pavement. 

@14 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"I'm mighty glad I met ye, Joe," was his 
first comment. "IVe been trying to find 
out your whereabouts. To think that Fate 
should have been kind enough to put you in 
my way, like that; man, it's just grand!" 

I told him of my mission in Cowdenbeath^ 

"Weel, I'm glad I've caught ye in time, ye 
bounder, cause I dinna think I could have 
followed ye to the States to make a visit on 
ye," he said. 

By this time I had fully recovered myself 
and scrutinized him carefully. "You've got 
the same smile, Ned, but my how you've 
grown! You look at least two inches taller 
than when I saw you last." 

"And that I might," he replied; "come on 
and I'll tell ye all about it." 

So we limped into Cook's tea rooms, se- 
cured a table in a quiet corner, and he told 
me his story. He spoke in a halting manner, 
for it brought back many of his sufferings, 
but to me it is so striking that I felt, in finish- 
ing the tale of my war experience, you would 
like to know about a war romance — for 
romance it surely was — with as happy an 
ending as any novelist might conceive. I 

215 



THE BLACK WATCH 

will tell to you, as nearly as possible in his 
own words, the remarkable story he unfolded 
to me. 

"Do ye mind when ye left me in the nook 
after bandaging my wounds?" he asked. 
"Weel, I lay there thinking and wondering. 
Ye ken. Renter, what I was wondering about 
— about ye're coming back; or maybe some- 
one else might find me and take me back to 
the lines. But no help came. Then I got to 
thinking of the lass, and I managed to take 
her letters, as well as a few fags, from my 
haversack. I smoked the fags one after the 
other, and read her dear kind words over 
and over again. My mind kept dwelling on 
what was to have been our marriage day. 
Renter, remember I told ye about it. It 
was to have been on the 7th of August, and 
then on account of the war, we put it off until 
after I should come back. 

"And now, I thought to myself, maybe 
I'll never get back. All sorts of possibilities 
passed through my mind, and between this 
and the awful pain that throbbed all over me, 
I felt like as if I'd go mad. 

"It began to get dark and my patience 

216 



THE BLACK WATCH 

got exhausted. Then the idea came into my 
head that I could maybe drag myself along 
with my hands a wee bit nearer our lines. 
I thought of your promise, Renter, but I 
couldn't stay. A few of the lads around me 
pegged out one after the other, and it made 
me feel fair frenzied. 

"Do ye remember Stanley Stenning, an 
English fellow of C company? Weel, he 
crawled out a wee while before me. I've 
heard since that he was home, but minus a 
leg, but I haven't heard so far of any of the 
other wounded fellows that were in the nook 
with me. 

"Weel, to get back to my own experience. 
It was awful — the pain — it racked me through 
and through, as I tried to move ahead by 
the aid of my hands. I would take a grip 
on anything I could get hold of and drag 
myself on a wee bit at a time. I had managed 
to do about a hundred yards, when I seemed 
to sense that I had taken the wrong direction, 
and oh! how weak I was about that time — 
it's past telling. I just simply had to lie 
there — I couldn't drag myself another inch. 

"I remember seeing a few bushes about 

217 



THE BLACK WATCH 

fifteen yards ahead — it seemed so far! — and 
at first I wished I could manage to get to 
them, thinking I might get out of the way of 
the enemy, should any of them come along. 
But after a few minutes I decided it was 
perhaps as well that I was exhausted, because 
if I got there and should lose consciousness, 
ye might not find me, and that it was just 
as weel I was in the open. So I tried to con- 
tent myself, but it was maddening. 

"In dragging myself to this spot I passed 
here and there one of our lads — then again 
I would make out one of the Camerons — and 
Renter, they were so — still! But I crawled 
on, and as the vision of the lass came to me, 
I felt braver, and made up my mind to hold 
out as long as I possibly could. 

"By this time it was night — the time 
seemed to drag so ! Then I remember hearing 
the sound of some one moving about, and 
I was just in the act of calling for help when 
the thought flashed through my brain that 
maybe they were Germans; so I kept still. 
The sound soon died away. My! how often, 
since then, I've wished I had called out. 

"I lay there wishing and hoping that I 

218 



THE BLACK WATCH 

might be found before morning, but the hours 
dragged on. I was growing fainter and 
fainter, and more feverish. 

"At last, I dimly distinguished the presence 
of a party. Then I saw them turn over some 
of the dead Highlanders as they came across 
them, give each a kick, and pass on. By 
this time I could see they were stretcher- 
bearers — and Prussians, at that. I was 
already on my back and therefore hoped they 
would pass me — praying all the time that 
they would, I kept staring up at the stars. 
The Huns were passings but it was over my 
body. The carrier at the front of the empty 
stretcher stepped over me, but the man in 
the rear stepped directly on one of my 
wounded legs. The pain caused me to 
groan out. At this they halted and spoke, 
gruffly, in German. 

"They took the contents out of my pockets 
and haversack, opened the stretcher, laid it 
alongside of me, rolled me very roughly onto 
it, and picked it up. Every once in a while 
during the journey to the dressing station 
which was quite some distance over broken 
ground, they would stop and drop the stretcher 

^19 



THE BLACK WATCH 

on the ground, which caused me to groan more 
and more. There were hundreds of wounded 
Germans at the station. 

*'Here I was rolled out of the stretcher. 
I could feel that the pleats of my kilt were 
soaked with blood. Presently a little insignif- 
icant-looking German with spectacles on 
looked at me, and asked in English: 'What 
is the nature of your wounds.^' 

''I told him. He looked at them very 
hastily, then said: *You are lucky. They 
should have been eight inches farther up.' 
With a grunt he went to attend to the Prus- 
sian patients. 

"With that, the Hun lying next to me — he 
had been wounded through the arm and foot 
— noticed me and commenced spitting on me 
and cursing in German. I made no protest. 
I was too utterly weak and exhausted. 

"At last ambulances drew up near by, and 
the wounded Germans, after having their 
wounds dressed, were placed in them. My 
turn came to be carried onto the ambulance, 
without, however, any attention having been 
given to my wounds. After a great deal of 
jolting about, our ambulance drew up near 

220 



THE BLACK WATCH 

a railway siding, and the German patients 
were served with some hot coffee, then we 
were all put on board a train. By this time 
it was daylight. Almost as soon as I was 
put on the train it began to move off. 

"Shortly afterward, a tall, lean German 
doctor came over and looked at me, then 
renewed my dressing, which was the first 
since yours. Renter. He asked me in broken 
English if I had had anything to eat. When 
I answered in the negative, he walked away 
and looked over the other patients and talked 
to them. After quite some time, a German 
orderly came to me with some hot milk and 
a sandwich of black bread and very bad- 
smelling cheese. I was given the same 
treatment as the others while on the train. 
The doctor told me there were more English 
wounded on the train, but that was all he 
said. I cannot say how long I was on the 
train, but at last, after a lot of shunting, it 
halted, and all the German wounded were 
taken off. 

*'An armed guard of two men came in and 
took their posts beside me. I was given 
coffee and more black bread and cheese. I 

mi 



THE BLACK WATCH 

was transferred into a sort of truck, the guard 
being with me. They cut a few buttons off 
my jacket as souvenirs. 

"After another considerable journey, I 
was put into a motor ambulance, which 
brought me to my destination. It was dark 
when I reached this place and I could not see 
my surroundings. I was carried into a hut- 
like arrangement, where I found others, 
German and British soldiers, and some French 
also. 

"I was only a few minutes in this %ut' 
when a big fat, over-fed, severe-looking Ger- 
man officer came in and growled out some- 
thing in a rough voice. A nurse rushed up 
to his side. He growled out something else, 
and she immediately went out. In less time 
than it takes to tell, she came back with what 
no doubt he had been growling for. It was 
a sheet of paper and he commenced reading 
from it. It was to the effect that the English 
prisoners would not be allowed to disobey 
any of the officers, soldiers, orderlies or 
nurses — that if they should do so they would 
be instantly put to death. If they wished to 
make complaints they were to do so through 

222 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the orderlies. However, if the complaint 
should not be a proper and truthful one, 
the prisoner making it would be liable to be 
put to death. He also strongly emphasized 
the fact that if any prisoner was caught 
attempting to smuggle or write letters, the 
sentence of death would instantly be imposed 
on him. At this point he went away.* 

"My heart sank. I got so homesick and 
much weaker; my hopes gave out entirely. 
I had been thinking that, on reaching my 
destination, I would be allowed to write home; 

and now ? 

"I must have lost consciousness, for it was 
day time when I awoke, to find two doctors 
examining my legs, with a number of young 
students standing around me. One of the 
doctors, an old man, who spoke excellent 
English, said that both my thighs were 
badly fractured and that it would be necessary 
to operate on me the next morning. Then 
he commenced explaining to the young doc- 

*This was Ned*s individual experience. Prisoners 
in other hospitals and prison camps may have been 
allowed to write home even at that time. In talkmg 
to others I have learned that the prison camps in Ger- 
many vary a great deal.— The Author. 

223 



THE BLACK WATCH 

tors. After the explanation was over, they 
all walked away. 

"The next morning I was taken to the oper- 
ating theatre, which had a gallery all 'round 
packed with young German students. On 
the floor there were only a nurse, the old 
doctor who had spoken to me the previous 
day, and a few attendants. I was lying on a 
sort of high-wheel stretcher. The young 
students were laughing and jeering, when 
suddenly the old doctor turned on them 
furiously, using some hot German language, 
and instantly there was quietness. Then a 
cap was put under my nose. 

"When I came out of the chloroform there 
was a cage arrangement over my legs and 
I had no pillow for my head. At the moment 
I thought it was a very mean trick to do me 
out of it, but after some experience in the 
hospital I learned that it was to prevent 
me from getting sick upon recovering from 
the effects of the anaesthetic. 

"There were about eighteen patients and 
two nurses in the hut where I was. The nurses 
took turns of night duty week about. The 
day nurse during my first week there was 

224 



THE BLACK WATCH 

a very severe and sour-faced creature. She 
could speak a little English, and I'm sure 
she did not speak to me more than twenty 
times, and not once kindly. The night nurse 
was a woman about forty years of age She 
could speak only a very little English, but 
she was pleasant and good-natured. She took 
more care of me than any of them and would 
bring me a glass of milk now and again when 
the guards were not looking. She also in- 
formed me that this was the place that stu- 
dents came to, for practising and experiment- 
ing on the wounded prisoners, and added 
that I would have a lot more operations — 
which I had. 

''Conditions became worse as months 
dragged on. It was now summer of 1915, 
and still my legs were not allowed to set. 
One operation followed another. I saw an 
iron plate with rusty screw nails an inch long, 
that had been used to patch up my thigh 
bones. I suffered much physically — but worse 
than that was the mental suffering I expe- 
rienced, worrying about my folks at home. 

"Every other day, young sarcastic doctors 
would come in, take the splints off, and 

225 



THE BLACK WATCH 

commence squeezing and turning my broken 
legs in a painful fashion. Some would shout: 
'English swine, why don't you cry out?' but 
I don't remember doing so when any of them 
were near me. 

"The food got worse and worse toward 
winter. I got three meals a day. Breakfast 
consisted of weak coffee and a slice of black 
bread with some kind of lard spread on it. 
Dinner was herring bone or potato-peel soup, 
or ham-bone soup with a slice of heavy potato 
bread. Supper was a repetition of breakfast 
except that very often the lard was absent. 

"There were two German patients who got 
the best of attention. I learned though, that 
they were wounded in the act of deserting, 
and were to be court-martialed upon recovery. 
After they were able to sit up they would get 
a large jug of beer with their midday meal 
and this was a keen torture to me. 

"I became determined to find some way 
of communicating with my sweetheart and 
friends at home, to let them know I was 
still alive. The night nurse told me she 
expected to go near the firing line for duty, so 
I asked her if she could try to smuggle out 

226 



THE BLACK WATCH 

a letter for me so that it would reachXmy 
friends. At first, she very positively refused, 
saying that should the effort be found out, 
she would be instantly shot, but after I ex- 
plained my case to her and pleaded with her 
she brought me a pencil and note paper and 
watched a chance when all was quiet. She 
put a screen round me and whispered in my 
ear to praise the commandant, and the doctors, 
and write in the brightest manner of every- 
one there. Thus, she said, the censor might 
allow the letter to go through. 

"While she watched the guards, I scribbled, 
doing all she told me to. I described the place 
and commandant something in the following 
manner: 

This is a most beautiful place. I think it's the 
prettiest hospital in the great German Empire. It is 
even more elaborate than the wonderful Peterhead 
sanatorium at home, and the commandant is the 
nicest old gentleman. The staff, here, is also superior. 
We get the best of food and plenty of it and all kinds 
of recreation. Even visitors bring Enghsh magazines 
and treat me like a relative. 

"After finishing it, I gave it to the nurse 
to read. I had written all the sheet could 
contain. She looked it over and seemed very 

227 



THE BLACK WATCH 

pleased with it and said that it would pass the 
censor all right. She sealed it, then affixed 
a stamp, and hid it away in her dress, promis- 
ing to post it next jnorning. 

"I thought it was rather neat, my working 
in the Peterhead prison in Aberdeenshire, as 
a sanatorium." 

"After the nurse's departure, I slept peace- 
fully and with an easy mind, as if a great 
burden had been lifted from it. 

''When the usual batch of sarcastic young 
German students came next morning and 
started in jeering at me, I smiled. One of 
them instantly leaped forward and gave me 
a stinging blow on the face with his open 
palm. I managed to contain myself — ^but 
how I did it, I don't know. 

''That same evening, the commandant 
came in raging. He nearly ate me up, while 
in the act of producing the letter I had 
written the previous night. I longed so for 
the ground to open and swallow me up. He 
said the penalty for the offence was death. 
At first I denied that I knew anything about 
the letter, but he shouted : 'Do you not remem- 
ber giving the same address upon coming here.^' 

228 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"I did, only too well. 

"After blazing out .on me, lie left, cursing in 
German. I made up my mind that I was 
doomed, but decided to lie as long as I could 
on my cot, as I felt that I would no doubt be 
shot as soon as I was able to get out of bed. 
That night a big masculine-looking nurse 
came on duty, and she was a perfect virago. 

"I learned with deep regret that the kind 
nurse was moved — ^perhaps shot. I watched 
my chance, and at night, when no one had 
eyes on me, I twisted in such a fashion that 
my thigh bones could not possibly get a chance 
to knit together. The agony I suffered was 
fearful, but I did not care. In the morning 
my temperature would go up and further 
operations would follow. I continued doing 
this for a week or so but at last I could not 
stand it. I just had to lie still. 

"In December I began to get up for a few 
hours daily. It was torture to me when I 
tried to move around. I was so very weak 
and all the muscle and flesh had left my 
body. I was reduced to almost skin and 
bone. 

"I was not even given a stick to support 

229 



THE BLACK WATCH 

me. I limped about for a few weeks, then 
received my uniform and was moved to the 
prisoners' enclosure, where there were one 
thousand British prisoners. Like myself, 
none of these fellows was allowed to write 
home, and I don't suppose they will be — 
until they are set free. We were crowded 
into tents. The food was terrible; I have 
seen pigs get better. But we ate it just the 
same. 

"The next morning after breakfast, we 
were all marched out to make roads, chop 
wood, and do all kinds of convict work. Some 
of the men had a leg off, others had an arm 
off as well as being otherwise crippled; but 
they all had to work. 

"I wasn't able to keep up with the rest while 
marching out to the place where I was to 
work and one of the German guards started 
poking the butt of his rifle into my ribs. 
This was his way of making me keep up with 
the rest of them. I tried hard and finally 
managed to reach the spot where our men 
were working. I was given wood to saw. 

"I managed to stick to it about half an hour, 
then I fainted. When I came to myself again 

230 



THE BLACK WATCH 

a big dirty Prussian was kicking me and 
telling me to get on with my work. But I 
couldn't. Upon seeing this, a man from our 
squad was ordered to wheel me back to camp 
in a barrow with a German walking along- 
side with his rifle slung over his shoulder, 
smoking a long pipe and jeering all the way. 
I was at once classed as 'worthless.' 

"Our oflGicers had to work like the other 
men, but the special job given them was 
road-sweeping. I was given some dirty work 
to do around the prison camp for a few days, 
until at last I had to be put in the hospital 
again on account of weakness. One of my 
legs was shorter than the other, owing to 
the manner in which they had practised on 
me. 

"This time I was in the hospital only about 
two weeks. Then I got my clothes, and the 
commandant came in and informed me that 
he got orders to supply six worthless English 
prisoners from the camp for exchange. 'You 
are the first on the list,' he said. 'You are no 
good to anybody. You cannot even work 
for the food you get.' 

"I could hardly realize my good fortune. 

231 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I wept with joy. To think of being sent home 
as an exchanged prisoner! 

"I 'fell in' along with five more fellows, 
one was stone blind; his face was an awful 
sight — all dark blue as if it had been tattooed. 
The other four had body injuries. We were 
placed in a motor truck which conveyed us 
to a railway station, then we were packed in 
trucks with a few sentries over us. 

"One of the sentries, out of pity, gave one 
of our men a cigarette. The poor fellow 
had just lighted it off the stump the sentry 
was about to throw away, when a German 
officer rushed forward and knocked it out 
of his mouth with his glove, and had him taken 
away at once. The sentry who had given 
him the fag was ordered to take off his equip- 
ment, and two of the German guards marched 
the British prisoner and German sentry 
away. 

''Two nights later we landed at a port and 
were marched on to a steamer. I think it 
was a Dutch boat, as I did not see any 
Germans on board until we were out at sea, 
when we were gathered together, and a Ger- 
man staff officer of the navy gave us a lecture. 

232 



THE BLACK WATCH 

He finished up by saying that we were not 
free of the German Government until we 
landed in England, and should any of us dis- 
obey while on board, we would at once be 
sent back to Germany. You may depend 
upon it that we obeyed. 

"After we boarded the boat we were 
given some Capstan Navy-Cut Cigarettes — 
and got a good meal, the first since I had 
been taken prisoner. I was so overjoyed 
that I sat in a corner and did not utter a word 
until I landed on British soil, then I prayed 
silently and thanked God for bringing me 
back to a civilized country. I think there 
were over six hundred exchanged British 
prisoners on the same boat. 

"When we landed in England, we were 
taken to a hospital, and those of us who were 
able to travel were asked if we wanted to 
go straight home for a few days, and report 
for medical treatment in our own districts. 
I think all those who weren't able to do much 
more than crawl said they preferred to go 
straight home. Next morning at 8 o'clock 
I was given two sovereigns and a furlough, 
pending discharge.' 

233 



THE BLACK WATCH 

"After receiving the money, I boarded the 
first train for Auehterarder, where 'the lass' 
lived. She had opened a millinery business in 
my absence. The train left at 10 a.m., and I 
arrived at Auehterarder depot at 8.15 p.m. It 
was about a mile from the station to Jeanie's 
house. I wanted to get there as soon as I 
could, and walking was out of the question. 
So I managed to coax a teamster to go a little 
bit out of his way and let me off near her 
home. I wanted to surprise her, so went on 
upstairs in her house quietly. 

"As I climbed up I could hear the sound of 
much merriment coming from the upper 
rooms. The first thought that struck me was 
that perhaps she had been already notified 
and was preparing a surprise for me. Yet it 
seemed strange, as I had sent no word ahead 
of me — ^not even a telegram. 

"I felt real nervous upon reaching the door, 
and wondered what I should say on entering 
it. At last I summoned up courage and 
opened the door. I stood still. The sight that 
met me dazed me. I couldn't believe my 
own eyes. 

"In the room there were many young ladies 

234 



THE BLACK WATCH 

—most of them dressed in white. I recognized 
some of their faces. Jeanie was standing in 
the centre, dressed as a bride with a bouquet 
clasped in her arm. 

"I was beginning to think that it surely 
was a most heavenly surprise. But they 
caught sight of me and it seemed as if -they 
all made for the farthest corners of the 
room. They looked at me in what seemed to 
be terror. 

"Jeanie stared at me for a moment. She 
was very pale. I wondered why she didn't 
rush forward and greet me — as I felt she 
ought — with outstretched arms. At that I 
started to make for her side. She gasped 
out 'Ned' — and sank to the floor in a 

faint. 

"While I was leaning over her, there was 
a commotion at the door. I looked around 
and saw the clergyman enter, with one of 
my old-time chums dressed as a bridegroom. 
Upon recognizing me the bridegroom looked 
bewildered, but the next moment he had 
recovered himself. ^ He approached me and 
shook hands, telling me, with an odd and 
embarrassed manner that my arrival was 

235 



THE BLACK WATCH 

timely. He added: *If you had been delayed 
half an hour, Jeanie and I would have been 
married by now. It seems as if Fate has 
taken a hand in this.' 

"He told me that Jeanie had been worry- 
ing and was continually talking about me, 
and that she didn't believe I was dead, 
although I had been reported *killed or 
missing' since September, 1914. He had told 
her that she was foolish to keep up this 
thought, and finally had persuaded her to 
become engaged to him, The date for the 
marriage was fixed for the night on which 
I arrived. 

" During this time the bride was being at- 
tended by some of the other young ladies 
and had been revived. 

" The intended bridegroom went to her side 
and asked if she still cared for me. Her answer 
was: Tf he loves me, yes J He approached 
me again, asking whether I cared for her still. 
Oh, I wanted to say how I loved her and how 
anxiously and hurriedly I had made my 
way to her on reaching British soil, but I 
was too overcome for words; I could only 
nod an assent. Do you know, Renter, what 

236 



THE BLACK WATCH 

this old pal did? He withdrew, giving me 
his place, and he acted as Best Man. 

"Since then I've wondered whether, if it 
had been any other man, he would have 
stepped aside so. He loved her as I did, no 
doubt, but it seems she couldn't forget me, no 
matter how he tried to make her do so; so, 
realizing all this at the time, he did what he 
thought would give her the greatest happiness. 
I had suffered sorely. Renter, but surely I 
was well rewarded. The pal who had expected 
to have my place gave us a hundred pounds 
as his gift to help us along in business. We 
were married that same night — only three 
days ago. So you see. Renter, I lost no time 
in trying to find you to tell you of my complete 
happiness." 

We left the tea rooms, and I accompanied 
Ned to the railway station, where he took 
the train for his home town. As we parted 
he wished me the best of success in America, 
and hoped that he would hear of my getting 
married very soon, for he assured me he was 
so happy that he wished to know that such 
happiness was mine also. 

237 



THE BLACK WATCH 

I made for home then, and in less than 
a week's time I was on my way to the 
States. 

Ned's good wishes for me have certainly 
been fulfilled. I have since married, and it 
is my wife who has proved my sole inspiration 
and help in writing this book. 



238 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

NO DOUBT, if I had been trained in 
writing rather than in the tactical 
requirements for service in the British 
army, I should call this the appendix of my 
book. I prefer not to do so, having found in 
my own experience that readers may be in- 
clined to view the appendix in literature as 
similar to the appendix in surgery — some- 
thing which is unnecessary. 

I cannot so regard this chapter. It is to 
me a component and interesting part of the 
whole, for it goes to the source of the splendid 
and unique traditions of the regiment in which 
I have been privileged to serve as a soldier 
of my country. 

A great deal has been written about the 
Black Watch. Even poets have been inspired 
to sing of its deeds in stanzas which are undy- 
ing. Men of Highland birth, glorying in its 
history, have set down the facts of its achieve- 
ments under England's banner. Yet most 

239 



THE BLACK WATCH 

of these records are composed of dry facts, 
with no expressed sense of the romantic and 
the unusual which enter so largely into the 
history of the most famous fighting organ- 
ization in the world. And most of them, also, 
might be written from the viewpoint of a 
century ago. They do not bring the recital 
of the achievements of the Black Watch 
into the atmosphere of to-day, with due 
regard for the interesting and almost startling 
effect of contrast. 

This thought came to me one day when I 
was riding on a trolley through one of the 
busy districts of that part of Greater New 
York which lies east of the bridged river, and 
suddenly realized that I was passing over 
the very ground upon which the Black Watch 
had its first important engagement in the war 
of the American Revolution — ^the Battle of 
Brooklyn. I recalled that on this very spot, 
where clanging trolleys, quick motor cars 
and hurrying pedestrians made a confusing 
rush of traffic, the men of the Black Watch 
fought, in the fashion of their forefathers, with 
broadsword and pistol, against the sturdy 
pioneers whose descendants are now the 

240 



THE BLACK WATCH 

allies of our nation in a war for world freedom. 
In the annals of our regiment, the use of the 
broadsword and pistol in the Battle of Brook- 
lyn is duly recorded, for it was after this 
engagement that the regiment was required 
to lay aside these mediaeval weapons — a fact 
which occasioned such discontent among the 
veterans of the Watch that there was even 
fear that the Highland stubbornness might 
manifest itself as markedly in protest as on 
the occasion — in England, in 1743 — ^when the 
men of the regiment, confronted with orders 
issued in ignorance of the Highland charac- 
teristics and customs, departed quietly, in 
a body, without the knowledge of their offi- 
cers, and marched as far as Northampton 
with the intention of returning to their 
Highland homes, relinquishing the purpose 
only when prolonged negotiations had made 
the facts of the situation plain to their stub- 
born minds. 

On the whole, however, this disposition 
on the part of the men of the Black Watch 
could hardly be called surprising, in view of 
the ignorance regarding the Highland charac- 
ter then prevalent in England. Three years 



THE BLACK WATCH 

before, King George the Second, having never 
seen a Scotch Highlander — although the Black 
Watch had already been organized in the 
Highlands as the Forty-third regiment of the 
British army — asked to have some examples 
of the race sent to appear before him and his 
court. Two Highlanders, Gregor MacGregor 
and John Campbell, appeared in response 
to the King's command. (A third, John 
Grant, began the journey to London with them 
but died on the way.) MacGregor and 
Campbell gave exhibitions of their dexterity 
with the broadsword and the Lochaber axe, 
in the presence of the King and his Court. 
When they had finished the King gave each 
a gold guinea as a gratuity. They gave the 
coins as a tip to the porter, on their departure. 
The King had not understood that his guests 
were Highland gentlemen. 

Sitting at the window of the house where 
I now pass the peaceful and uneventful days 
of the soldier who has fought until wounds 
incapacitate him for further service afield, 
I smiled, one day, at another thought in which 
the past and the present incongruously came 
into association. From this window, I viewed 

242 



THE BLACK WATCH 

the populous, close-built residential stretches 
of Washington Heights, typical of the city 
life of to-day. And, amid all this, my eye 
could seek out the very spot where occurred 
the grimly humorous adventure of Major 
Murray, most corpulent of the officers of 
the Black Watch, when the command was 
fighting against Washington's rebellious pa- 
triots. Having to scale the heights which 
were later to become famous as the habitat 
of the hardy goats of Harlem, Major Murray 
was at a great disadvantage because of his 
weight and girth. "Soldiers, would you leave 
me behind.f^" he appealed, pathetically, when 
he needed assistance. And then his husky 
Highlanders would boost him upward to- 
ward the fray. It was, consequently, in 
a somewhat breathless and confused condi- 
tion that the valiant major attained the 
spot upon the heights where the conflict 
raged. Rushing forward to close with some 
antagonist in the Colonials, Major Murray 
discovered that his only weapon, his dirk, 
had got twisted behind him in the strenuous 
struggles of the ascent and that, because 
of his excessive fatness, he couldn't reach it. 

243 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The records of the regiment, at the home 
station, Perth, state that the major, on this 
occasion, tore a sword from the grasp of one 
of three Colonials who attacked him and put 
all three to flight. With no thought to cast 
aspersion upon the major's valour, I have 
always been inclined to the belief that the 
writer of the regimental reports may have 
compensated in a certain generosity of state- 
ment for his earlier description of the major's 
comic predicament. 

Study of the history of the Black Watch, 
gathered, largely, in a fragmentary way, 
has always had a fascination for me. I have 
felt in the greatest degree the pride of mem- 
bership in the organization — and the world 
knows that the men of the Black Watch have 
always made much of the name. I feel that 
tradition had well prepared the regiment for 
its sacrificial and almost superhuman efforts 
between Mons and the Marne. For hard 
fighting and long fighting — in every quarter 
of the globe and with opponents of almost 
every race — civilized and uncivilized — no or- 
ganized fighting force has ever had a record 
to equal that of the Black Watch. 

244 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The regiment got its name in 1729, when 
six companies of Highlanders which had 
constituted a sort of military police along 
the highland border, were joined together 
into a more or less homogeneous command. 
Four of these companies had been in existence 
for a few years. Two were of organization 
of that year. They were called the Inde- 
pendent Companies of Highlanders but it 
was their purpose to co-operate to preserve 
order among the turbulent spirits of the bor- 
der and to enforce the disarming act. High- 
landers from the broken clans flocked to the 
banners of the Independent Companies, as 
this gave them the right still to bear arms. 
Many of them were Highland gentlemen, who 
came with their servants to carry their arms and 
belongings. The companies were commanded 
by Lord Lovat, Campbell of Lochnell, Grant of 
Ballindalloch, Campbell of Fonab, Campbell 
of Carrick, and Munro of Culcairn. Approxi- 
mately, there were a hundred men in each com- 
pany. They wore the dark tartan of the clan 
Campbell, and thus came to be called the Frea-^ 
ceadan Dubh, or Black Watch, as distinguished 
from the saighdearan dearg, or red soldiers. 

245 



THE BLACK WATCH 

For ten years, these six companies served 
on the border, constituting a slender but 
effective bulwark between two neighbouring 
but utterly different peoples. In this day — 
when it is but a pleasant outing to motor 
from England into the Highlands — it seems 
almost unbelievable that the laws, language, 
customs, and social usages of the Highlanders 
should for centuries have remained utterly 
different from those of England and the 
lowlands, and that the people of the lowlands 
should have almost no knowledge of neigh- 
bours so near. The sturdy and soldierly 
qualities of the Highlanders of the six com- 
panies, however, couldn't escape the notice 
of England's generals, ever seeking new drafts 
for England's fighting forces. 

In 1739 it was decided that a foot regiment 
of Highlanders should be added to the regular 
establishment of the army^ the six Independ- 
ent Companies being augmented by four 
new companies to constitute the regimental 
strength. 

In 1740 this regiment — commanded by the 
Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, as colonel — 
was paraded for the first time on a field, near 

S46 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Aberfeldy. Until then, the Black Watch 
had been uniformed only in the fact that each 
member wore the philleadh mor or belted 
plaid, of the Campbell tartan. No one but 
a Highlander could ever adjust this dress. 
It consisted of twelve yards of tartan, two- 
thirds of it gathered in pleats, held by a belt 
round the waist, and the other third folded 
around the body and clasped with a buckle, 
on the left shoulder. 

The uniform and individual equipment of 
the new regiment, which was called the Forty- 
third Foot, is described in detail in an old 
order of the day. It consisted of ''scarlet 
jacket and waistcoat, with buff facings and 
white lace; the phileag beag, or little kilt; 
a blue bonnet, with check border of red, 
white, and green, and a tuft of feathers; 
musket, bayonet, pistol, broadsword, dirk 
and target." The first march of the regiment 
was from beside the waters of the Tay — where 
it had encamped for more than a year — to 
Perth, in which city the home station of the 
regiment was then established and still is 
maintained. ; 

When I outfitted there, with my contingent 

247 



THE BLACK WATCH 

of first reserve men, at the outbreak of this 
war, the thought came to my mind that, 
three times before, the Black Watch had 
moved from Perth to fight in Flanders. 

I have never seen a succinct summary of 
the activities of the Black Watch. Though 
far abler writers than I have described its 
separate campaigns, each of these writers 
has given but a limited view of the long vista 
of sturdy fighting which visualizes the regi- 
ment's history. From such sources of infor- 
mation as I have had, the following summary 
has been extracted. Surely it will tell a story 
of interest to every man who is interested in 
the traditions of Britain's "far-flung battle 
line." 

The regiment marched from Perth to Lon- 
don, in 1743, and, after a mutiny — due to 
tales of scandal-mongers that the Highlanders 
were to be sent to the American plantations — 
made its first journey overseas, going to fight 
in Flanders under the command of the Earl 
of Stair. After Fontenoy, the regiment 
covered the British retreat and lost, among 
their officers, five Campbells. In this battle 
thev were commanded by Sir Robert Munro. 

248 



THE BLACK WATCH 

The Black Watch, then called the 43rd[ 
Highlanders, was transferred to England, 
and most of the companies were kept in Kent, 
during the Jacobite uprising. Three com- 
panies were engaged in Scotland in putting 
down the insurrection, and one was at the 
battle of Prestonpans. I quote from a story 
of the Black Watch written by Lauchlan 
MacLean Watt in saying that ''the other 
two companies had an unwilling share in the 
deplorable outrages in the Highland Glens 
after CuUoden, which made the name of the 
Duke of Cumberland worthy to be placed 
amongst those of his blood who have won 
similar distinction in Belgium, to-day." 

The Black Watch was sent to France, in 
1746, thence to Ireland and back to Flanders 
in 1747. 

In 1749 it was returned to Ireland where 
it remained eight years. In this year 
thej regimental number was changed to the 
42nd. 

In 1757 the regiment was a part of the expe- 
ditionary force sent to America for the 
French and Indian war. At Ticonderoga 
it served so valiantly and sufiFered such 

249 



THE BLACK WATCH 

terrific losses that the name "The Royal High- 
landers" was conferred upon it. 

The regiment next fought at Martinique 
and Guadaloupe, returning to fight again in 
Canada and take an important part in the 
battle which compelled the surrender of 
Montreal. Altogether, it served seven years 
in the West Indies and North America. It 
was only at this period that company sergeants 
were given carbines instead of the Lochaber 
axes which they had always carried. 

In 1775 the regiment returned to Scotland, 
having been absent 32 years. 

In April, 1776, the regiment embarked again 
for America, this time to fight in the revolu- 
tion of the American colonists. They were 
disembarked on Staten Island, and, as I 
have said, they were engaged and suffered 
some losses in the Battle of Brooklyn. They 
also suffered heavily in the Battle of the 
Brandywine. 

The Black Watch next fought against 
Ilyder Ali, in India, in 1782. 

In 1795 it took part in the defence of Nieu- 
port, in Flanders, and suffered much in the 
Gildersmalsen retreat, in that campaign. 

250 



THE BLACK WATCH 

Back again, the regiment went, after this, 
to the West Indies and in this campaign the 
men were first given a uniform suitable to 
wear in the tropics. Its principal features 
were white duck trousers and round hats. 
The mutations of world warfare had had 
their eflfect. The Highlanders were willing 
to put on pantaloons. There were but five 
companies of the regiment on this expedition. 
The whole regiment was reassembled, how- 
ever, in the following "year, at Gibraltar, 
and fought as a whole in the capture of 
Minorca. 

The year 1800 found the regiment, unaer 
Sir Ralph Abercromby, in Egypt. During 
the fighting with Napoleon's armies, there, 
the regiment lost its commander in action. 

In 1808 the Black Watch was among the 
British forces in the Peninsula and suffered 
extreme privation and heavy losses on the 
retreat from Corunna. 

In the following year the regiment was on 
the ill-fated expedition to Walcheren, return- 
ing with less than one-third of its original 
strength. Three years later they were in 
Portugal again. 

251 



THE BLACK WATCH 

After the escape of Napoleon the regiment 
fought through to Waterloo, though without 
playing an important part in that last great 
battle. 

It then fought through the campaign of 
the Crimea as a part of Sir Colin Campbell's 
Highland brigade. 

Within a year it was in the lead of the force 
of six thousand men which Sir Colin led against 
twenty-five thousand mutineers at Cawnpore. 

Its next hard fighting was in the Ashanti 
campaign, under General Sir Garnet Wolse- 
ley. 

In 1881 it was combined with the 73rd 
Highland regiment (formerly the 2nd bat- 
talion of the Black Watch) and in the next 
year was back, fighting in Egypt. Through 
the whole of that war in Egypt it was in the 
fore-front, fighting with distinction up to 
the end of the expedition which was organized 
for the relief of Gordon at Khartoum. 

The regiment suffered its most terrific 
losses — up to those of the retreat from Mons 
— in the South African campaign. The 
slaughter of the Black Watch, at Magers- 
fontein, when the Boers ambushed it in close 

252 



THE BLACK WATCH 

formation, was the most shocking news that 
came to England from the Cape. 

The story of the 2nd Battahon of the regi- 
ment and its deeds is a separate one, through 
several decades. It sailed to India in 1780 
and was in action in all of the big and little 
Indian wars of that early and troublous 
time. In 1809 it was made a separate regi- 
ment and called the 73rd Highlanders. As 
such it served at Waterloo, and it remained 
a separate unit until 1881, when it was re- 
united with the original 1st Battalion. 

The Black Watch, as now organized, might 
almost be called a small army. There is 
a depot battalion at Perth, four territorial 
battalions in Scotland and six service bat- 
talions. 

In 1905, I enlisted in the 1st Battalion of 
the Black Watch — the same "Royal High- 
landers" that had won its designation at 
Ticonderoga. In 1907, I was transferred to 
the 2nd Battalion, which had been known as 
the 73rd Highlanders. I joined them at their 
station at Peshawar, near the mouth of the 
famous Kyber Pass, in Afghanistan. In the 
athletic contests for which the regiment was 

253 



THE BLACK WATCH 

famous, I met as a competitor, Ned MacD 

the same Ned MacD whose romantic 

story I have told in a previous chapter. 
After a time we were the regimental cham- 
pions, and, many a day in India, we strenu- 
ously upheld the honour of the Black Watch 
in competition with the men of other regi- 
ments. 

My athletic days and my fighting days are 
over. But ever my blood will quicken with 
the thought that I have played my part and 
done my service and shed my blood in the 
ranks of the Black Watch, fighting for Right 
and for the Freedom of Mankind. The pain 
of old wounds will ever vanish, the regrets 
for departed comrades will ever fade into 
forgetfulness when I read, again, the verses 
which paraphrase the title conferred by the 
boches upon the Black watch — upon us! 

There's a toss o' th' sporran, 

A swing o' th' kilt, 
A screech frae th' pipers 

In blood-stirrin' lilt; 
They step out together 

As pibroch notes swell — 
Oh, they're bonny, braw fighters, 
"The ladies from Hell." 

254 



THE BLACK WATCH 

They're far frae th' heather 

Aia' far frae th' moor; 
As th' rocks o' their hillsides 

Their faces are dour. 
Oh, "Th' Campbells are Comin' 

Frae corrie an' fell — 
What a thrill to their slogan! 

These "Ladies from Hell." 

As they charged at CuUoden 

Like fire o'er th' brae. 
Their brothers are charging 

In Flanders to-day. 
One lesson in manners 

The boche has learned well: 
'Tis: Make way for the ladies — 

"The Ladies from Hell." 



THE END 



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